


Us or Them

by MandyCandy



Category: Star Wars, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Author has figured out the whole plot line!, Author is naming all chapters after The Cure lyrics, Author swears it!, Betrayal, Completed, Discussion about kids, Double Agents, F/M, Fake Marriage, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Faking it till we make it, HEA, Happily Ever After, I promise, I promise! It'll be okay!, I swear!, I'll only do that once per story, Leia does not win, Luke isn't a total dick, M/M, Manipulative Kylo, Minor Violence, No Pregnancy, No one that we love though, Prompt Fic, Rey has one brain cell when it comes to Ben, Slight allusion to human trafficking in c.7, Street smart Rey, Sweet Ben, Tagged for major character death, There will be fluff, Witness Protection, author is just as curious as how it’s going to end, brief mention of finn/poe, but don't worry!, c.10 has an epic battle that results in a high body count, c.7 has a single comment about dead children, c.9 has two major character deaths, pantsing the story, who knows which one is real?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-17
Updated: 2020-08-17
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:54:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 12
Words: 47,383
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25954048
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MandyCandy/pseuds/MandyCandy
Summary: Rey and Finn accidentally witness the Final Order clearing up a distribution issue at Plutt’s Automotive. To make matters worse, Finn is recognized, Rey got it on video, and Kylo Ren is out for blood.Now they have to go into witness protection. Separately.Thankfully, due to the high value of Rey’s testimony against the Final Order, a highly decorated FBI Agent, Ben Solo, is going to be taking care of her by playing house and pretending to be newly weds.Or is Kylo Ren going to *take care of her* first?Tags and rating has changed for violence, major character death, and swearing.
Relationships: Kylo Ren & Rey, Kylo Ren/Rey, Poe Dameron/Finn, Rey & Ben Solo, Rey & Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Rey/Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 56
Kudos: 33





	1. There is No Terror in My Heart

**Author's Note:**

> Tags and rating may change as the story progresses. I will make a note if they do.
> 
> This is the first time I’m writing Star Wars, so here’s hoping I’ve got the characters right. This is based on a prompt I saw and decided to try. But whoops, definitely not what the prompt had intended, but also not not what it said either ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯  
> I’m definitely playing with prompt loopholes 😅
> 
> “Rey and her insufferable boss Ben accidentally saw the wrong thing and now they are in Witness protection pretending to be newlyweds.”

It was late, the street lamp at the end of the block illuminated a small circle of light that Rey made her way towards as she stifled a yawn. She was tired. She had been at the garage since eight that morning because Plutt got four cars in the wee hours of the morning that needed to be stripped of location tech, VIN numbers, and replacement numbers by noon.

But when Unkar says noon, at least he means four that afternoon, otherwise that would never happen. One boon was another problem, she still had to complete her usual, legal, work before she could be done for the day, hence the late night. She rubbed the back of her neck and stifled another yawn. She was standing under the street lamp, waiting for Finn to pick her up. She checked her pocket for her battered mobile to see if he had texted.

"Shit." She frantically patted down all her pockets, and was now searching her much patched knapsack. "Where are you?" She mumbled as she searched.

A car pulled up beside her, "everything okay there Rey?" Finn's voice came through the open window.

"Pretty sure I left my phone in the bathroom in the garage." She looked back at work.

"Going to go back and grab it?"

"Debating." She bit her lip. She didn't need it for calls until she needed a ride home tomorrow night, but she also didn't have an alarm clock or watch. She sighed. "Yup, I'm going to have to grab it, your wait here Finn."

"I don't want you going alone, jump in and I'll take you over."

"You know I don't like you going there, Unkar and Teedo are racists asses, you don't need to go through that just because I'm disorganized."

Finn wasn't taking no for an answer, instead he leaned over and pushed the passenger side door open. "Come on, Unkar is usually passed out in his chair by now, and Teedo's probably left, right?"

"I guess so, okay." She climbed in.

Finn rolled the car forward the block and a half and was about to turn into the parking lot of Plutt's Automotive when Rey stopped him with a hand and a shake of her head. "Stay here, I'll be back in five minutes."

She slid out of the car and quietly closed the door. She realized she was tiptoeing back into the garage, her stomach knotted tightly and she couldn't put a finger on why she was so anxious about. But her spider sense was definitely tingling. She quietly made her way into the locker room and grabbed her phone from where she left it on the dirty bathroom counter before slipping back out of the locker room and through the garage.

Rey froze when she heard the door from Plutt's office slam open and a number of voices came storming out. She hid behind a rickety shelf full of used exhaust and muffler parts and peered out at the group. Plutt she expected, his glutinous body waddling quickly behind three very tall people in black bike leathers and helmets. Teedo and one other sketchy looking guy Rey recognized from seeing him around the shop, were being dragged towards the lone car sitting in the garage bay.

The car was a shit banger, one door and the hood were mismatched, the boot dented. One of the two tallest of the bikers unlocked the boot, the door jammed, and they pounded their fist on the top, above the lock twice, Rey jumped both times. The boot opened, and Teedo and his buddy were dragged closer. 

Rey couldn't tell anything specific about the bikers but she could tell that biker wasn't what they were. They moved too smoothly, with too much grace and purpose. They struck her more like dancers or maybe assassins, not mere bikers. They only thing bike about them was the leathers and helmets, that was it. Rey was pulled away from her thoughts as Teedo started yelling.

"I didn't do shit!" He was nearly frothing at the mouth. "Not shit you didn't tell me to do!" He pointed at Plutt as he we shoved into a compressed sitting position in the boot.

Plutt raised his hands defensively. "I didn't tell him to do what Teedo's saying I did. I do what your boss tells me." His face puffy and red as he looked at the tall person who had punched the boot earlier. "I listen and watch. I told you when I noticed what they were up to."

Typical Plutt, Rey thought, always trying to save his ass at the cost of everyone around him.

Teedo's buddy launched himself out of the boot when everyone had turned to focus on Plutt. Teedo stifled his exclaimation as his buddy knocked the shortest (a mere six feet if Rey was to judge) of the three bikers towards one of the taller two, they stumbled, knocking the shortest's helmet loose. Suddenly a livid looking ginger with a face to match was spinning around to face Teedo as the other one ripped off their helmet and chucked it at the back of the other guy's head. He crumpled to the floor, groaning and grabbing the back of his head.

The redhead, Ginger as she was mentally dubbing him, grabbed Teedo's buddy by the back of his shirt and dragged him none too kindly back to the banger and shoved him back into the boot.

The taller one had a pin straight white blond hair pulled into a tail at the nape of their neck and kept their back to Rey. "Plutt, you must think us idiots. You didn't tell us for months after you caught them running behind your back, and more importantly Snoke's back. No, you didn't go straight to Snoke, or even us. Oh no, you demanded a cut from them, and you got greedy." They said their profile turning so Rey could see it, betraying that it was a stunning woman with a queenly profile who had the impeccable aim. Her accent a rich British that spoke of privilege, power and money. Rey was momentarily distracted by jealousy.

But the blond wasn't finished. "You covered their asses for seven months before you came to us because they were going to get your personal interests in trouble, because you kept demanding more from them. If you had just accepted their initial offer, Snoke would have been more generous with your mistake. But you got so very greedy." She pulled a pistol out of a holster on her hip, checked it, and wiped it down before handing it to Plutt. "You're going to clean up your own mess, time for you to take responsibility for everything, not just your ass."

The red headed biker, whom Rey now could see quite clearly, had pulled out a mobile phone and had stepped back to record Plutt with the gun. She noticed that he had carefully framed the shot so it was only Plutt and the guys in the boot.

Rey carefully lifted her own mobile and with a shaky hand flipped on the camera and video to record the scene in front of her.

"Rey," Finn said in her ear. "What's taking so long?

She jumped and tried to muffle her scream, nearly dropping her phone. "Shush!" Her her snapped back to the group by the banger, the tallest two looking back in her and Finn's direction. She pushed Finn away from her and towards the door, Finn took the hint. 

She held up her mobile again to try and record a little more, catching the two tallest make a series of hand signs that ended pointing in her direction. She backed up slowly, camera still facing the group, as she tried to move quietly towards the door. She didn't miss that Blondie held a second pistol to the back of Plutt's head. Plutt shakily lifted his own pistol and fire at Teedo and his friend. Four shots and there were two bodies in the boot. 

Rey definitely did not manage to cover her squeaks at the gunshots as she turned and ran, not worried about making noise as she slammed the door open and ran out to Finn's waiting car. Her door hadn't fully closed by the time Finn slammed on the gas, spun the wheels and tore off down the street in the wrong direction.

Rey looked over her shoulder to see the not-Blondie or Ginger biker standing in the middle of the garage parking lot, staring in their direction.

**.... . / .. ... / -.-. --- -- .. -. --. / ..-. --- .-. / - .... . --**

Ren stood silently on the cracked ashfalt, mentally committing the license plate number to memory.

"Hey Siri, call HIM."

"Okay," replied Siri. "Calling HIM."

Three rings later, Snoke picked up. "Is it done?"

"Sir, yes sir, but there's been a complication. There were two witnesses and they managed to slip away."

"I assume you or your other knights got enough information to track them with." 

"Sir, yes sir."

"Then get everything cleaned up and don't call me until you have Plutt and your mess cleaned up."

"Sir, of course sir."

Snoke ended the call and Ren sighed silently to himself, so much for an easy night of body disposal. He shrugged and turned back to head into Plutt's Automotive to finish the easy part of the job.

**.--. .-. . -.-- / ..-. --- .-. / - .... . .. .-. / ... --- ..- .-.. ...**

Rey and Finn say at a cold steel table, styrofoam cups of precinct coffee in hand, quietly huddled together in the interrogation room as they waited. The door quietly opened and closed as two plain clothes detectives walked into the room and sat down across from them.

He was nearly six feet tall, slim, muscular, but starting to show the signs of sitting at a desk. Beside him, his partner was a mousy brunette, about Rey's height, slim, and definitely never missed a day at the gym. Or pool. Or wherever she worked out.

"You two have been incredibly patient, thank you, we're going to go over everything one more time, Ms Niima, Mr Myrsky."

Rey rolled her eyes. "First names, please use our first names."

"Not a problem." She made a quick note on the file in front of her before clicking the pen and making eye contact with both of them. "Before we get started, can we get you anything?"

Finn and Rey exchanged a look. "Real caffeine? Like a cup of tea maybe? Not sure what you call this, but it's not coffee." Rey grumbled out before Finn had a chance to stop her. To his credit, he did look embarrassed by her, but Rey was too stressed and tired to care any more.

The female detective burst out laughing. "You're not wrong. We'll see if we can get one of the patrol boys to get you something a little better." She turned fro Rey to Finn. "I imagine you feel the same way?" Finn nodded.

She elbowed her partner to get up and send someone for real tea. When he left the room, she smiled. "Even though Devon is non-binary, the rest of the guys respond to being pushed around by Devon better than me." She shrugged as if this was normal. In a way, Rey could understand, it sadly was. "When they come back, we'll get started on going over everything one more time."

"Two things," Finn spoke up. "What is your name? And two, why do we have to do this again. You two are the third pair of cops we're being forced to talk to about this." 

"Detectives. They're Devon Mathews and I'm Kaydel Connix, we've been investigating the Final Order and their connections. We've been hunting down ways to bring down the organization for three years now." She chuckled. "I feel like that was a clump of exposition, sorry. Basically we've been busting our asses for the last three years to try and turn enough evidence to finally bring down the Final Order. The three people you saw tonight Rey? Those are the three biggest players directly under Snoke and Paps. And you got two of them clearly on camera." Kaydel leaned back in her chair, a grin stretching across her face.

"So if Rey's evidence is what you need, why are we still here?"

"Because we've got a few more questions to ask." Kaydel said quickly.

"Questions," agreed Devon as they came back into the room, two paper cups from a local donut chain in a paper tray with fixings on the side. "And one favour."

"Favour? Nope, that sounds ominous." Finn immediately disagreed.

"Perhaps we can go over the night's events one more time, and then you hear us out. Sound fair?" Devon pushed the teas towards the two friends. Rey nodded after a long while, Finn rolled his eyes before agreeing.

**.... --- .--. . / .... .- ... / .-.. . ..-. - / - .... . -- / .- .-.. .-..**   
  


"You want Rey to testify?" Exclaimed Finn, standing up so quickly his chair clanged to the floor. "Against an organization that has a history of killing witnesses? Nope, she's not doing it."

"Pardon me," Devon said coolly. "Just what do you mean by that?"

Finn froze as soon as he realized his mistake. "Nothing. I didn't mean shit. Rumours you hear on the streets, and in the the dark corners in seedy bars. That's all."

"Pretty sure that's exactly not all." Devon narrowed their eyes at Finn.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Called out Rey. "First, I'm pretty sure it's my decision. Secondly, you don't work at Plutt's without seeing some questionable things. You already know Finn and I used to live on the streets, at one point or another, everyone's path crossed with the First and the Final Orders. It wasn't a choice, it was a matter of survival. You can't do anything about it. Finn has good reason to not want to get involved with either order."

"Ren said if he ever saw me again, he'd kill me on the spot." Finn mumbled.

The two detectives exchanged a look. "Do you know what Kylo Ren looks like?" Kaydel asked cautiously.

Finn shook his head. "No, he and the rest of the knights always covered their faces. There was a rumour that they had muggle jobs to protect."

Kaydel blinked. "I'm sorry, they had whats?"

A slow grin spread across Devon's face. "Muggle, as in Harry Potter?"

Finn nodded. "Muggle job, a fake job, something that no one cared about but covered their asses."

"I fail to see what Harry Potter and the Final Order have to do with anything." Kaydel replied coolly.

"I think I get it." Devon turned to Kaydel. "In the Potterverse, muggles are non-magical folk, so this means that muggles refer to people not in the Order. Makes sense, having a cover, but also could explain why they're ever seen with their faces uncovered."

"Until now."

"Until now." Agreed Devon.

After a long pause Rey spoke up. "The Order is bad, right?"

"Of course." Agreed Kaydel.

"And they're responsible for drug and weapon running, as well as human trafficking, right?"

"To start with, yes." Nodded Devon.

"Would my testifying actually make a difference?"

Devon and Kaydel exchanged a look. "It could very well, yes. We're just trying to finalize and confirm the head, Paps."

"Paps?" Finn spoke up. "You mean Palpatine?"

"Palpatine?" The detectives exclaimed together.

"As in Senator?" Devon clarified.

Finn's eyes widened. "That was always what the whispers said. I've never seen Paps, just heard the rumours. I mean who hasn't?" He leaned back in his chair and tried to make himself smaller, as if he could disappear by willing it.

"Would you be willing to share what you know?" Kaydel asked carefully, trying to cover her excitement at a possible new lead.

He shook his head aggressively. "Aw hell naw! I barely got away with my life the first time, and that's only because of Rey, I'm not risking it again."

The room door swung open, and a hyper alert officer stood in the way. "'Tectives, Chief want's you."

"When we're done." 

"Naw, she wants you now." 

"If you'll excuse us for a few minutes?" Despite that fact that it was phrased as a question, Rey and Finn knew that they had no option but to sit tight and wait.

The officer closed the door behind the detectives and left. Rey tried to quietly sip her tea while not looking at Finn. After a few minutes of her sipping and sighing, Finn groaned. "What?"

"What what?" She countered as innocently as she could.

"What's bothering you Rey, and don't lie."

She put down her tea and turned bodily towards him. "Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why do you refuse to share what you know?" When Finn didn't immediately answer, she continued. "We both know you know things that could help them."

"I still have night terrors from my time with the Order. Ren, Gwen, and Arm are what scares the boogieman." He took a deep breath. "Those three we saw tonight, they are the scariest, but the others aren't pussy cats. They have someone on the inside, I don't know who, or where, but they have someone. That's how no one has ever made it to the stand. That's not whispers, that's facts. Ren told me himself when I threatened to leave."

"That's horrifying."

"I want you to promise me you wont testify. Do a written testimony, or a Jane Doe, but please, please, please don't take the stand Rey. You don't know what they're capable of."

"Finn, I don't know because you won't tell me."

"I don't want to relive it Rey."

Rey sighed. "You do you Finn, but I'm going to do what I can and if that means taking the stand to help make sure that a crime syndicate gets put away, then that's what I do."

"Rey," Finn started to say, then gave up.

"I don't want any more kids like you and I to get pulled into something they can never escape because they had no other choice."

"They'll kill you."

"They can try," Rey put her hand on Finn's shoulder. "But you know first hand how hard it is to kill me."

"Ya, can we add that to the growing list of things I don't want to relive?"

Rey chuckled lightly before going back to her tea. They sat quietly, left to their own thoughts.

This time when the door opened, both of the detectives looked serious. Gone were the easy smiles and hope, now their lips were pursed and they looked like they had bad news.

"Finn," Devon said slowly after he settled into his chair. "Can you explain why a patrol found a car with three bodies stuffed in the trunk in your parking space in your building?"

Finn's dark skin lost all colour as he blanched an alarming grey colour. "What? No! My car is here, in your parking lot!" He looked panicked from the detective to Rey, and back again.

"Do you know who might want to put a car with three dead bodies in the trunk, in your particular parking spot?"

Rey didn't think it was possible for Finn to lose more colour, but he did. "Ren." He whispered.

"Pardon me?"

"Kylo Ren." Finn took a deep breath. "He must have seen me at Plutt's when we took off. But he promised," he trailed off.

"He promised what?" Kaydel prompted gently.

He took a stuttering breath. "He promised that, that if he ever saw me again, he would make sure that everyone I loved suffered before he killed them, and then me."

Rey’s jaw dropped as she stared at Finn, he refused to meet her eye.

**.-.. . .- ...- .. -. --. / --- -. .-.. -.-- / - . .-. .-. --- .-. / .. -. / .... . .-. / .... . .- .-. -**


	2. Death is with Us All

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ren does some digging into Rey  
> Rey and Finn find out where they’re going  
> Finn's secrets come out  
> And the FBI gets involved

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Last time on Us or Them:**  
>   
>  Rey and Finn witnessed Teedo and his buddy get killed by the Final Order and Rey decided to testify.  
> Ren sent a clear message to Finn, and now they’re going into witness protection.

Ren stood across from the police station where Finn and his little friend Rey were hiding. He leaned against the bus stop sign and pretended to scroll through his phone while sipping a coffee from the donut shop two blocks over. There’d be no bus for another fifty-three minutes, he had timed his return from the coffee shop to specifically just miss the bus so he’d have an unquestionable reason why he was loitering. No longer in his leathers, he now looked like any one else in the street. Worn blue jeans, white shirt under a half zipped jumper.

The girl had been inside the precinct for five hours now, his message to Myrsky had been delivered, and now it was just a matter of waiting. Ren was good at waiting, at biding his time. He had carefully curated a reputation of impulsive impertinence and an adolescent temper. If only those that crossed him knew what he was planning. He chuckled lowly to himself as he let his eyes flick over the top of his phone when the front doors of the precinct opened.

Two plain closed detectives walked out. He recognized them immediately and hunched his shoulders, letting his hair fall forward over his eyes. He was well acquainted with Devon and Kaydel, but if they spotted him here, they'd have more questions for him than he really wanted to answer. But the good news was that if they were leaving, odds are that Myrsky and the girl had been either moved are were being kept in the precinct for the night for safety. A quick call could answer that question.

When the two detectives parted and went their separate ways, he took one last sip of the coffee before tossing it in the nearest bin. No amount of sugar or cream could save it. Coffee during night shifts were either fresh as hell, or tasted like a gas station floor, this one tasted like floor. He shoved his hands in both pockets and looked both ways before striding across the street towards the visitor parking lot at the side of the building. 

He was searching for a particular beat up car, the one he had seen Myrsky tear away from Plutt's in. He found the rusted red vehicle nearer to the building, but mostly alone in the lot. From the inside of his jumper he pulled out a flat piece of metal with a couple of cutouts and slid it between the driver's side window and door with practiced ease. A moment later the lock popped and he slipped the bar directly under the seat if anyone came looking. He closed the door, and hot wired the car and putting it on accessory. Turning on the interior light and radio he looked around the car, trying to find a clue of who the girl was.

Buried deep between the passenger seat and the centre console was a beat up duct tape wallet. He pulled it out and chuckled, it was something like all the shop kids made back when he was in high school. Every shop kid went through a duct tape phase, every one of them and it seemed like this girl was no different. He pulled out an expired ID card and hoped the address was accurate. He took a photo before replacing the card. The rest of the wallet had a few crumpled singles, a bank card that had definitely seen better days, a couple of coffee cards, and a frequent shopper card for a pet store. He put the wallet back exactly where he found it and continued searching the car.

Ten minutes later, he had Myrsky's new address, Rey's potential address, and a deep desire to shower. The traitor really needed to have his car detailed, but considering he was working two jobs just to stay afloat, he probably couldn't afford it. He took one last look at the old car before walking away and strolling down the street towards the public lot with no cameras that he had parked his car.

**\- .... . / .-- .- .-.. .-.. ... / .- .-. . / .- .-.. .-.. / .--. .- .. -. - . -..**

Ren was struck by concern, a rare experience for the emotion to be towards someone else outside of him immediate relations and his careers. But as he stood in front of a housing building that was definitely rub by a slum lord, he was concerned about how the girl, Rey, managed to stay safe in the area. He could count four dealers, two were Final Order's, at least three hookers and a pimp, and one unmarked patrol car all withing yelling distance. Not that yelling would attract any attention in this area, not like he would. He was too clean cut looking. He wasn't wearing anything expensive, but he definitely hadn't been shopping at Walmart. He mussed up his hair, threw his weight onto one leg, and gave a little twitch with his head and right arm, giving the impression that he was tweaking out on something, and headed towards the security door of the building.

To his joy and dismay, the security door lock was welded open letting him right in and up the stairs until he was on the fifth floor. Somewhere down the hall a heated argument was happening, not caring that it was, he looked at his watch, four am. Ren shook his head and strolled to Rey's door. A piece of metal had been rigged around the lock to prevent someone from jimmying the lock open the old fashion way. That wasn't going to stop him though, he pulled out his bump key and listened at the door. Rey had a pet store card, which meant she probably had a cat or dog, but all he could hear was trickling water, probably a leaking faucet. He opened the door quickly with the bump key and slipped in. No animal greeted him inside the door. Maybe the card was for someone else's pet. But no, that didn't make sense. Plutt said the girl spent all her time at work, he didn't give her much of a choice, not with her expired green card. 

He let himself further in and found that she lived in a tiny bachelor, the kitchen on his left, bathroom he assumed on the right, a very old looking twin mattress without a boxspring lay on the floor tucked into to the back corner under the window. No TV or stereo in sight, but a little radio with a cassette deck sat on top of a milk crate. Just to the left of the bed, against the other wall, was a kiddie pool, water gently bubbling in a small cascade. Confused that a girl who seemed to live in abject poverty would have something as frivolous as a plastic pool confused him. As he got closer, a loud plop sounded from the water. Ren clicked on a small pen light he pulled from his pants and shone the light at the pool. Staring back at him from under the water seemed to be a white turtle with soft orange markings. The turtle looked none too pleased to have been disturbed. 

He let out a chuckle and went back to inspecting the apartment. Kitchen was full of the discount options of baking soda, salt, mac and cheese, instant noodles, peanut butter, cheese spread, and clearance bread. The fridge only had milk, what looked like homemade iced tea, a bottle of ketchup, and a small package of quick-fry beef strips that probably should have been cooked yesterday. The only thing that wasn't discounted or off brand was the box of Twinning's Earl Grey tea.

The bathroom was much the same, stained and threadbare towels, dollar store shampoo and soap bar, a cheap toothbrush, and toothpaste in a small jar that looked to be homemade. It seemed that she was barely living at all, cleaning her up would be a blessing, ending her suffering and all. But first he needed to find out exactly what she had told the detectives and what evidence she might have been able to supply them. After that, he could clean her and Myrsky and be over it.

**-.-- . .-.. .-.. --- .-- / --. .-. . -.-- / .- -. -.. / ... .. -. .. ... - . .-.**

Rey stretched and yawned, her body yelling at her that it was time to wake up. She reached over for her phone and to turn on her tape deck when she rolled off the bed and landed hard on the floor. The sudden drop much further than she was used to in her bed. Sleeping with her matress on the floor meant nothing could hide under it, and her tossing and turning from the night terrors wouldn't hurt as much when she hit the floor. Also, she couldn't afford the bedframe, so that made it even easier.

She opened her eyes, looked around and immediately closed them again. She took a deep breath and opened her eyes and tried to remember why she was sleeping in a jail cell again. Finn stuck his head over the top bunk and looked down at her. "You okay?"

She got to her feet and rubbed her arse. "Ya, just forgot where I was."

Finn groaned. "I wish I forgot where we were, definitely one of my top three nights ever."

"Worse than the night we had to sleep in the storm drain and it flooded?" Rey tried to joke.

"Okay, top five worst nights. Definitely first time I've ever woken up in a cop shop though."

"Take the win Finn. There's a good side to everything."

Finn swung his legs over the side and dropped to the ground and rubbed his face. "How are you so positive all the time?"

Rey shrugged. "With how life has treated me up until now, I could either hate the world and want to watch it burn, or look on the bright side and make it better for others."

"It's that kind of thinking that landed you with a turtle." He laughed.

"Hey," Rey shot back. "BeebeeAte had no one else and would have died, not his fault he doesn't have the scoots over his heart. I gave him a chance, and he's doing really well, thank you very much!"

"You're a good human Rey, always looking out for everyone else, but never for yourself."

"That's why I got you." She dropped her hand on his shoulder and gave him a toothy grin. "So, you they'll let me go into work this morning?"

"Doubtful," Kaydel said opening the door. "It's a known Final Order business, we're going to have to move both of you into a safe location."

“Both of us?” Exclaimed Finn. “I didn’t agree to testify!”

“You were a witness that the Order has deemed important enough to deliver a message to,” Kaydel said as patiently as someone has repeated herself many times could. “So yes, both of you are going to be moved.”

“Can I go back to my flat?” Rey asked as Finn grimaced. “I have things I need.”

“Officers can grab your clothes and personal effects for you.”

“Uh, ya, how good are they at transporting pets? Because BeebeeAte doesn’t need to be fed today, but he definitely needs to eat tomorrow and I’ve got no one who could take care of him. He’s special needs.”

“Cat? Dog?” Rey shook her head. “Rodent?”

“Reptile. He’s a turtle with part of his shell missing, it’s a birth defect.” Kaydel stared at her, unable to respond. “It’s probably safest if I go and pack him up myself.”

“Uh, ya, I guess we’re going to have to do it that way. I’m going to need to make a few calls.” Kaydel left them.

Finn and Rey wandered from the cell and down the hall to the main body of the precinct and stood awkwardly. An older woman about five inches shorter than Rey approached them while giving directions to three officers following her. She waved at the two friends to follow her without missing the stride of her orders. She dismissed the officers when they reached an office, and she beckoned them into the office. Right away, Rey knew this was not high ranking detective.

Against the windows that separated the office from the precinct sat a well worn canvas couch with a pillow and blanket folded on the end. A matching chair sat on the other side of the door, the set facing a well worn hardwood desk. The filing cabinets that lined one wall were covered in photographs of the woman and what appeared to be her spouse and child.

“That’s Ben, my son. He’s one of the few federal agents I can tolerate.”

“Your husband?” Finn asked, pointing to a photo of her and a blond man sitting on a tree branch, their arms wrapped around their shoulders.

She laughed. “My twin brother. Also a federal agent, but the jury’s out on him at the moment.” She motioned to the couch as she closed the door, blinds, and pulled the big chair to face the couch. “Sit down, we need to have a chat.”

Rey and Finn exchanged a look, but Finn took the side closest to the woman.

“I understand that you’ve not agreed to testify, is that correct Mr Myrsky?”

“Just Finn is fine, and no. I know what the Final Order is capable of, and I don’t fancy getting myself and friends killed.“ His eyes flicked to Rey.

“Well, if you want my opinion, and I’m pretty sure you don’t, you’re already in deep shit and I don’t think you’re going to be able to dig yourself out of it this time.” She started counting off on her fingers. "You’ve already attracted the eye of the Final Order, again I might add. You’re both witness to the IDs of two of the three biggest knights in the organization. Witnessed the rumoured next in line of organization set up a pair of murders. Have evidence of how they framed Plutt, that that he was innocent in the first place. And one of you has agreed to take the stand.”

Finn got smaller and smaller with every point the woman made.

“They’ve definitely got people on the inside, so reaching you shouldn’t be too hard for them. But, on the other hand, you’re The Finn, you’re the only one that’s ever managed to get away from the Order and survive without being pulled back in. Which makes me wonder just what you know.” She leaned forward, studying Finn closely, Finn was rigid under her gaze.

“The Finn?” Rey asked quietly in the long silence that stretched between them.

“Ya, that was his nickname, you didn’t think Finn was his real name, did you?” The woman answered without looking away from Finn.

“My last name is Myrsky, it’s Finnish for storm. And since there were four other guys name Michael, they called me The Finn instead.” Finn’s voice was wooden as he explained. “I kept it because it was so much easier than explaining how to pronounce Mikko or Mikael.”

“You’re Finnish?”

His answering laugh was devoid of mirth. “Damned if I know Rey, I’m an orphan just like you, I just never had the balls to run away. One of my foster parents owed the First Order for their drug addiction and offered us kids as mules. As I got older and bigger my job changed, so did the Order.”

“What was your roll in the Order Finn?” The woman asked.

“Sanitization.” He sighed. “You know, like in John Wick? _‘Dinner reservation for twelve.’_ I was clean up, I was really good at what I did, but I also knew a lot more than I should have and started putting clean ups together with people. I must have been on to something because when I mentioned it within earshot of Ren, he came at me real fast.”

“That’s how you got out?”

He turned completely to Rey. “You’re stubbornness and bravery gave me the bravado to threaten Ren, whatever I said struck a chord and he let me go, with his promise. Which is why I’ve spent all this time avoiding the knights at all costs.”

“I have a plan, but I’m going to need both of your help. And Finn, I’m going to need you to share what you can to help protect Rey.”

Finn looked from the woman to Rey and back before sighing and nodding. “For Rey, and only to help Rey. I don’t give a damn about your job, but if anything happens to her or BeeBeeAte, I’d never forgive myself.”

“I can take care of myself Finn, you know that. Don’t let yourself get bullied into something you don’t want to do.” Rey pointedly looked at the woman who still had yet to introduce herself, she realized. “You’ve been pushed around enough to last three lifetimes.”

He nodded. “But if what scared Ren into letting me go is enough to help protect you and stop them by proxy, then I’m willing to do it.” He took her hand. “As long as I have you by my side.”

Rey nodded.

“Well isn’t this sweet.” The woman said. “How long have you been together?”

They looked puzzled. “Uh, seven years? I think.” Answered Rey. “He tried to-“

“Uh,” Finn cut her off. “Maybe not an appropriate story for a police station.”

“Right. So what happens next?”

The woman smiled widely. “I call my husband to bring breakfast for you kids, and then my brother, and we get you kids sorted out and away to safety.”

“And my turtle. I get to bring my turtle with us, right?” Rey confirmed.

“Excuse me?” The woman looked genuinely confused.

“My turtle, I told Detective Kay, I mean Connix that I needed to get my turtle and bring him with me, to whatever safe house you put us in.” Rey said firmly.

“Don’t you have someone who can care for it for you?” The woman tried.

“The only relation I have is sitting beside me, so no. And he can’t survive in the wild or on his own.” Rey stood up as if she was going to leave. “So either I get my turtle, or you don’t get your witness, is that clear enough for you?”

She sighed. “No need to be so dramatic, we’ll arrange for your turtle to join you. Now, do you have any preferences for breakfast?"

**. ...- . .-. -.-- -... --- -.. -.-- / .-- .... .. ... .--. . .-. ...**

“Leia, I can’t lend out my agents just because you have a hunch, I need proof, formal inter department requests, budgets, and federal approval.” He grumbled on his old corded phone. He refused to use a cellphone in the office, and saw no point in a wireless phone. Good, old fashion, pig tailed cords were good enough for him. He twirled the cord around a finger and then another as his sister pleaded her case. “Yes, yes, yes, I understand that, but I can’t-“ She cut him off and he half listened to her, it was always the same argument about the Final Order. They’d been trying to set up a joint task force for years and couldn’t get the damned approval. “Wait, what did you just say?”

_“I said that we have recorded evidence of both Armitage Hux and Gwen Phasma without their face coverings, and a witness that can confirm that the third person was Kylo_ _Ren. And we have a solid lead on who Paps is.”_

“H- how?” He sputtered.

_“Pure luck. An expired green card holder and a former First Order cleaner fell into my lap last night. And I need to keep them safe this time.”_ She said firmly.

He always thought she should have gone to Quantico, not him, she had the stubborn streak in the family and the verbal skills of the famous Marc Anthony. “Can you back your witness up with proof?”

_“I’ve got a trustworthy team on it with their lips sealed, but ya, with the new information, I think we might just be able to.”_

To bring down the whole organization was the rest of her unfinished sentence. He sat back in his chair, the hinge squeak and the compression of the leather the only sound as he thought a moment. If Leia really could prove this and uncover who Paps was, then maybe, just maybe, they could flush out and prove there were moles in his agency and the police. They might finally be able to uncover just how far the corruption really went. “Okay Leia, let’s talk. You and Han still doing Sunday dinners at yours?”

_“Of course.”_ Came the flippant reply.

“I’ll bring the kid and we’ll talk about the next steps.”

  
**.-- . / .- .-.. .-- .- -.-- ... / -.- -. . .-- / .... . -.. / --. --- / ..-. .-. . .**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you’re liking this so far, I think I know where it’s going now, and I have a rough idea of how it’s going to get there. Chapter count is a rough estimate.
> 
> Thanks for all the subscribers! That blew me away! Let me know what you think of the story so far, or even guesses of what’s going to happen, I’m curious where you guys think it’s going too 😂


	3. With Our First Breath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey finds out that she is being housed separately from Finn when she arrives at the new safe house and is setting up BeeBeeAte’s pool.  
> Finn is sent to settle in with Han.  
> And Ben meets Rey for the first time  
> 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Last time on Us or Them:**
> 
> Rey and Finn find out that their only choice is to go into witness protection.  
> It's revealed that Finn isn't his name, and that he used to work far more deeply in the Order than he ever told Rey.  
> Rey forgives him, but pushes Finn to share what he knows.  
> Oh, and is that a reclusive and difficult Luke we spotted?

“Wait, what do you mean Finn’s not coming here?” Rey froze, holding BeeBeeAte over the kiddie pool that was now sitting on top of a sturdy table under the window in her room. “You said we were both going to a safe house.”

“Yes, well I didn’t say together and I didn’t have a lot of time to pull everything how I’d like to. But just shows that we can’t always have what we want.”

Rey didn’t move. “I never get what I want.” She muttered under her breath. BeeBeeAte scrambled in her hands, his claws scratching at her in his annoyance at not being put back into the water. “Oh! Sorry BeeBee!” She gently placed the turtle into the basin and watched as he immediately submerged himself and swam around the water. This was his pattern any time he was pulled from the tank, he swam around to inspect it, first for predators, then for food. He busied himself chasing a feeder fish, much to Rey’s amusement, when she realized that the Chief was still talking.

“I’m sorry, what?”

Chief Organa looked carefully into Rey, “I was saying that you’re going to be a house wife to Agent Solo, he’ll be posing as your new husband to protect you from the Order.”

Rey’s eyes opened wide. “I still have to pretend to be married to someone? Not Finn? I only agreed to that cover story because I thought Finn was going to be my husband.”

The chief’s eyes softened. “He’ll understand that it’s only a cover, you’re not cheating on him, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

Rey cocked her head to the side, a puzzled expression on her face. “What?”

“Finn, you’re not cheating on Finn with this cover story. Well,” she chuckled. “Not unless you sleep with Agent Solo. But I don’t think that’ll be too much of a problem, he has the bedside manner of a brick.”

“Gee, thanks.” A new, decidedly male, voice joined the conversation. “Good to know that’s what people say about me behind my back.”

“Rey, this is Agent Solo. And don’t worry, he’s better at his cover stories than he is with first impressions.”

Rey took a moment to look over Agent Solo with a critical eye. He was tall, giant almost, probably six-two or six-four. Didn’t look like he was one of those guys that lived in the gym, but he definitely looked like he could hold his ground. He made a fist and his whole arm flexed, probably not even aware he did it, and wow, Rey could tell that his shirt was barely holding it together. Pair that with the wavy black locks, deep brown eyes, and a nose, cheek, and jawline that could cut steel, he made quite the impression. And not the impression Rey wanted from someone who was going to be pretending to be her husband for god knows how long.

She turned back to the chief. “How long am I stuck here, playing pretend?”

Organa turned to Solo and cringed slightly, Rey would have missed it if she hadn’t been watching the woman carefully. “A while.”

Agent Solo huffed a humourless laugh. “What Chief Organa here is saying, is that they are still tracking and verifying the new information recently brought to them. After that they need to apprehend the suspects, book them, and get the case to court.”

“So what’s that, six months?”

Organa and Solo both laughed but Organa at least had the decency to look ashamed after. Solo just grinned widely. “You watch too much TV."

"I don't think that's actually possible." Rey muttered under her breath.

"18 months if everything goes well," Solo ignored her if he even heard her at all. "Four or five years if everything goes wrong.”

“What!” Rey exclaimed loudly as she jumped. “No. Absolutely not!”

“I can leave you outside for the Order to pick up if you want to shorten the time?” Solo said dryly, one brow raised.

“Ben!” Organa exclaimed.

“What? She wants to know what her options are, I told her. She’s a big girl, she can pick between survival and stupidity if she wants to.”

“Not helpful.” Organa said through gritted teeth.

“I,” Rey started, looking between them. “I want to see Finn.” She finished quietly.

“You can’t.” Organa said sadly. “Not without risking both of your lives.”

Solo stood there quietly, looking at Rey in a way that made her feel like she was being studied by a predator. Rey squinted back at Solo, the way he was looking at her triggered a memory she couldn’t quite place. “Have we met before? You look familiar.”

Agent Solo stiffened slightly. “No.”

“Are you sure?”

“Postive.”

“I’m not.” Rey squinted at him again and tilted her head slightly.

Chief Organa started to laugh. “You’ve seen his photographs in my office, this is my son.” Solo grimaced.

“Well, you definitely didn’t inherit your charisma from your mother.” Rey contemplated. “Maybe your father?”

“I got it from my uncle, he has no patience for beating around the bush either.” Solo said looking directly at Chef Organa, his mother.

“Your uncle is at least personable.”

Solo scoffed. “No he’s not.”

“No,” agreed Organa. “I suppose he’s not anymore."

For a long time the three of them just stood there awkwardly. “Well,” Solo said finally, straightening his posture. “this wasn’t fun, I think I’m going to go unpack. You can continuing informing Ms Niima of all my flaws, apparently of which there are a multitude.” And with that final jab at Organa, he turned and left out the room and down the hall.

Organa sighed and sat down on the foot of Rey’s bed. “He’s exaggerating, he’s got no more flaws than the rest of his family. He’s a good kid and an even better agent, but he can be tough to get along with.” Rey didn’t miss the note of sadness in her voice. “Come now, let’s go over what’s expected of you once last time and then I’ll leave you be.”

**-. --- .-- / .... . ... / ... - ..- -.-. -.- / .. -. / - .... . / - .-. . -. -.-. .... . ... / --- ..-. / .... .. ... / --- .-- -. / .-- .- .-.**

Ben knew he had made a poor decision as soon as he snapped at his mother. He knew immediately that working his way into Rey’s trust was going to be infinitely more difficult now. And he knew that she was going to be one hell of a distraction, she had no right to be so damned pretty. He had stood in the doorway to her room, observing the two women while Rey stood in obvious shock, holding the unimpressed turtle. And Myrsky was going to be more of a problem than he had suspected. Sure he had information that could incriminate him as well as bring Paps to his knees if his mother or uncle figured out how to use it properly, and that was unacceptable. He had been working for years to bring his plan to fruition and he’d be damned if he’d let his family bring it crashing down around him. Too much to lose and not enough to gain by allowing their interference.

But Rey, Rey was going to be a challenge. Not just because her trust was going to be very hard to win, but because he could feel a pull towards her. And mixing business and pleasure was always a stupid move, more so with his business. Or rather, with his businesses. Ben quietly vowed to himself that he would keep himself distant from her, while luring her into trusting him, how hard could it be? After all, his employment revolved around this foundation, and he was very good at what he did. 

He put his overnight bag on the bed and began to unpack his things. The house already was set up to look like it was lived in, his father had been renting it for a few years and it had worked out nicely that together they had just finished fixing up the house from the last tenants. Han was about to put it back on the market when Leia proposed using it as the cover for him and Rey. Better the private location so that the address and location wasn't known on any government books. Even his uncle didn't know where they were. It definitely made it far more difficult for the Final Order to locate them, and it would throw him under suspician if he wasn't careful. Only a handful of people knew what was going on and even less knew where it was going on. Neither Luke nor Leia would tell him were Myrsky was yet, but he'd work on it.

He locked his electronics away in the safe in the closet and tucked the last of his clothes away in the dressers before heading downstairs to the kitchen. He had time to move his things into the house last week, chat with the neighbours, and casually mention his new wife would be joining him shortly. He grinned at how simple manipulation of people was on the peripheral of life. The ones whose faces he recognized and existed in passing, knew nothing of him and so their congratulatory words and platitudes did nothing for him but amuse him. He had been called cold and detached in reviews, but Ben knew that just allowed him to do his jobs better, emotional attachements only served to muddy up situations and turn them into dangerous problems.

Thinking to himself, Ben turned on the radio, apparently still set to the classic rock his dad likes to listen to, and started to make lunch. By the time Organa and Rey made their way downstairs, he had pulled together a summer salad, sweet tea, tart lemonade, and a selection of finger sandwiches; cucumber and cream cheese, tuna with pickle, chicken salad, and prosciutto and tomato. He wanted to see which foods she was interested in, they were going to be stuck with each other for a while.

**.-.. --- ... - / .. -. / - .... . / -.. .- .-. -.- -. . ... …**

Rey came down the stairs behind Organa. She was dragging her feet, she knew it, but she also didn’t care. What did it matter that she was grumpy and stuck somewhere she didn’t want to be with someone who didn’t care beyond a pay cheque. She missed Finn. She was also mad at Finn, but that was neither here nor there, she just wanted him here so they could watch crapy movies and drink cheep wine at his place while complaining about the world. Instead she was stuck with an ornery fed who probably has zero personality and was going to pose as her husband. For possibly multiple years. She was disgruntled with how impressed she was with how bad her luck could be.

She turned the corner into the kitchen, her socked feet sliding to a halt when she saw Organa seated across from Solo at the kitchen island, a full spread of food on the table between them. Her stomach let out a loud rumble before her brain could process anything past the presence of food.

“Sit down,” Solo instructed, sliding an empty plate to the unoccupied end of the island closest to her. “You need to eat something.”

“Where did all this food come from?” She sat and tried to not grab a bit of everything as soon as she realized there was variety.

Solo looked puzzled “The fridge?”

“Ya,” she said around a cucumber sandwich before swallowing. “But is it take out? Grocery store ready-to-eat? I didn’t hear the doorbell.”

Organa and Solo looked at her like she had two heads. “The food was in the fridge from when I went grocery shopping yesterday. I made this.”

It was her turn to look incredulous. “You, cook?”

He poured her a cup of sweet tea and pushed it towards her. “I am a grown adult.” Another one towards Organa.

“But cooking, not just plating.”

“Did you just imply that I took someone else’s cooking and am trying to pass it off as my own?”

Rey shrugged. “Maybe.” And shoved another sandwich into her mouth so she couldn’t say more. This one had fresh tomatoes, a weird but sweet vinegar, and a salty meat like bacon but definitely wasn’t bacon. “This one’s really good.” She reached for another of the same.

Solo chuckled and pushed the rest of the sandwiches towards her. “Did you want any more?” He belatedly asked Organa.

Organa shook her head and stood up as she drained the last of the tea. “I should head back to the precinct. Told everyone I was taking the morning to have lunch with my son. I really should get back to do that giant pile of ever growing paperwork.” She turned to Rey. “Never get into law enforcement, paperwork is the fucking worst. I swear it spawns more when you’re not looking. Like fucking tribbles.”

“Tribbles multiply even when you’re looking.” Solo corrected.

“Ya, so does my paperwork.” She grumbled and walked to the front door to put on her shoes. “If you need anything Rey, call me. Use the house landline until Ben here gets you set up with a proper cell phone. He’ll also go over with you the accepted locations you’re allowed to access for the first few months. Be good kids.” She waved and slammed the door behind her leaving a slack jawed Solo staring after the closed door. He rubbed his very large hand across his face. “Please tell me I misunderstood her and that she has, in fact, explained to you that you are not allowed to leave the property for the next few months.”

“What?” Rey exclaimed. “What am I, under house arrest?!”

He tilted his head back on his shoulders and sighed loudly. “If that makes you feel better, than yes. But the truth of the matter is that the Order is looking for you, they know your name and face and they’ve got it out for you and the Finn. You need to keep a low profile to keep you safe.”

“But I’ve already got a new name, new city, new house, I’ve never lived in one before.” She trailed off. “What’s the likelihood they’ll find me? And how do you know they’re looking for me?”

“Because it is quite literally my job to monitor the Order’s comings and goings, and more importantly, anything to do with you and your boyfriend.”

“Where is Finn?”

“Safe.”

“Okay, but where?” Rey pushed.

“Skywalker and Organa have him placed somewhere no one would ever expect.”

“Why couldn’t I be there with him?”

“Because the two of you together would be too identifiable and make the Order’s job infinitely more easy.” He closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Now, did you have any other questions, or can I go up to the office and actually do my job?”

“Whatever, I’m going to go sit outside.”

“Did you not hear anything I’ve said?”

“Yes, and you said to remain on the property. The backyard is still this property, is it not?” Rey challenged him, over his suddenly cold demeanour. ”So if you need me, well, don’t.”

She grabbed a random book off the shelf in the living room and walked heavily to the back door, closing it with more force than it strictly needed. She didn’t want to break or damage anything, but she also wanted Solo to be very clear on the fact that she wasn’t going to jump every time he told her to. She was doing _them_ a favour by agreeing to testify, she didn’t have to. The least he could do was try to be nice.

**\- .-. .- .--. .--. . -.. / .. -. / .... .. ... / -- .. -. -..**

_On assignment, will contact when safe  
_ _-kai_

Kylo sent the text off and waited the reply. Snoke would either accept the delay, our make his life a living hell.

_Acknowledged.  
_ _Return quickly, you still have the mess in the kitchen to clean up.  
-S_

The reply was quick, clean, and just casual enough that no one else reading could prove anything.

_Of course.  
_ _Will take care of it shortly  
_ _-kai_

His finished the text, turned off the phone, popped out the SIM card and put them all away in the safe. He now had a few days minimum to spend strictly with Rey and figure out how to address, spin, and sell the situation to Snoke. He stretched out on his chair and leaned back, he was going to have to formulate a plan to get Rey to relax and open up to him. His mind flashed back to the sandwiches, and prosciutto might just be the way to do that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, this took longer than I wanted. Work was stupid busy, my birthday happened (as per tradition, it fucking sucked), and I now have a 6 week old kitten (not sure how that happened, but my cat is not having it).  
> Hopefully I can produce at least one chapter a week (my aim is by Wednesday nights)  
> Thanks for your patience.


	4. And Spit Him Out As We Fall

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey makes a jail break  
> Ben gets advice from Phasma  
> Rey finds a new favourite bar  
> Ben befriends BeeBeeAte

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Last time on Us or Them:**  
>  Rey and Ben do not hit it off  
> Organa is super sassy when it comes to her son  
> Ben can cook?!  
> Kylo seems to be up to Things™

Ren sat in the back of the car he was sharing with Phasma and Hux, they all had their helmets and leathers on as they were being driven back to Snoke's to wrap this evening’s job. He had his phone out and was flicking through the live stream footage of the safe house, looking to see what Rey was up too. She had been cold towards him since the first day. Whereas he could get her to open up occasionally if he distracted her or she was focused on something, she would notice quickly and lock herself down tighter than before. He had to be very particular and carefully with how and what he chose to do and say. His brow furled as he went through all the cameras twice, she wasn’t anywhere. She might be having a bath or in the walk-in closet, those being the only rooms without camera, but the motion sensors would have triggered. It appears that Rey had managed to evade him and this angered him. Where was she?  
He opened up another app and dialled a number from it.  
“Hello?” The agent supposed to be monitoring her answered.  
“Where is she?”  
“In the backyard.”  
“Have you checked on her lately?”  
“No, she said she needed some personal time, mental health and all that.”  
“She did, did she? And you didn’t think to periodically check in?”  
“Uh, no? The yard is secure.” He replied unsure.  
“When did you see her last?” Ren grit his teeth.  
A pause. “About two hours and a bit ago.”  
“Fuck.” He spat out before taking a deep breath. “You find a direction and I’ll be there shortly. I want information when I arrive or I will have you tossed out on your ass with nothing left to your name, got it?”  
A mumbled confirmation was all Ren heard before he hung up and deleted the call from the app and growled lowly.  
“Girl problems?” Snickered Hux.  
He grunted back. “She refuses to stay put, why is it so hard to just do what you’re told?” He looked up at Phasma.  
“You both know that I rarely do what I’m told.” She shrugged.  
“That was kinda the point Phas.” Hux laughed.  
“But it could have something to do with her background, past experiences and trauma. She’s obviously female, so likely that she’s had a past history with men exerting their power and position over her. Statistically speaking she’s probably the victim of assault of one kind of another. Figure out what her trauma is and reach out in a way different from that.”  
He debated the cost of sharing information versus the potential insight he could get from Phasma. Her other job was a highly decorated CIA profiler, she’d know a lot more about the nuances of working with someone like Rey. “She was in the system.”  
“Criminal?” Laughed Hux. “Two peas in a pod that is!”  
“Foster.” Ren corrected.  
Phasma stilled. “You don’t like to make things easy for yourself, do you?” She leaned back in her seat, stretching her legs into Hux’s space, forcing him to pull his knees together and tuck them in towards the door. “If she aged out of the system, she definitely had more than her fair share of problems, the system is very broken. Hopefully she got a good foster or two, but odds are small. Unfortunately a lot of kids slip under the system’s monitoring and get into drugs, alcohol, prostitution, or become runaways. Or all of the above.”  
They sat in silence for a few more moments before Phasma sat up and leaned forward, putting her face near his. “If you want her to listen to you, try giving her things without strings. Do not give her pearls, diamonds, designer, she’ll turn and hawk them and expect you want sex as a payment for the pretty things. Try, I don’t know, food. Put extra boxes of snacks around the home and do not question when they disappear, just let her hide them. Feed her meals with too much food and let her keep the leftovers.  
“Don’t ask her questions beyond the casual while you're feeding her, she’ll start to associate food with inquisitions. She needs to feel safe before she’s going to start to relax and open up to you. When she starts to open up, she’ll start to listen. Befriend those who she trusts. But remember Ren, if you do all this and break her trust, you could very well break her.”  
“She needs to learn to stay safe.”  
“You sure that’s all she needs to learn?” Laughed Hux.  
Ren turned to the redhead beside him and levelled his glare on him. “What exactly is that supposed to mean Hux?”  
“Let’s face it Ren, you’re not a nice person.” Hux shrugged, unconcerned by Ren’s look.  
Ren let an exceedingly unpleasant smile spread across his face. “As usual Hux, my extra curriculars are of none of your concern. But you’re right, I’m not a nice person, which is why you can explain to Snoke what exactly happened tonight with the Antonios.”  
“You can’t-“ gapped Hux.  
“He can.” Laughed Phasma.

  
\- .... .. ... / .-- --- .-. .-.. -.. / .. ... / .... . .-.. .-..

  
  
Rey sat at the bar inside a dive called the Taco Daña. The name hadn’t made a lick of sense until she accidentally put too much hot salsa on her suadero tacos. She loved her spicy as much as the next person, and sometimes hot sauce was the only thing that made food that probably shouldn’t have been eaten palatable. But this salsa, it was something else, painfully spicy and full of flavour, she loved it! This was definitely going to be her new favourite place, she couldn’t wait to share it with Finn.  
The mere thought of Finn made her sad again, the bar tender reappeared and looked sadly at her.  
“Rough night child?”  
Rey nodded. “Missing a friend.”  
“Don’t worry, he’ll find his way back to you, let me get you another drink, you look like you’d enjoy it.” The short woman started pulling bottles from under the counter, pouring into a shaker, and then straining it into a glass in front of Rey.  
Rey took a sip and it was delicious, a little sour, a hint of sweet, and so smooth she couldn’t tell what the alcohol was. “This is great, what is it?”  
The woman chuckled and adjusted her glasses. “It’s a Cinderella mocktail, when you’re sad, you don’t need the alcohol to make it worse. Let me know if I can make you anything else, child."  
“Thank you. I think I’ll finish up everything, settle my bill, and head back home. Got someone waiting for me who’ll, uh, worry if I’m gone too long.”  
“Don’t worry child, take your time, it will be fine.” A bell in the back rang, and a large wooden door slammed open and two men walked in.  
Rey nodded at the bartended before turning her head to watch the two new comers. One was a man of average height, salt and pepper hair, and a leather jack that looked to be about as old as he was, and he was definitely in his fifties or early sixties. His friend was nearly seven feet tall, with long shaggy light brown hair and a scraggly beard to match. The tall man folded himself onto the bar stool next to Rey and grunted what sounded like an apology, while the other one grinned like someone who knew he was in trouble but chose to ignore it.  
“Han Solo,” the small bar tender put her fists on her hips. “If your wife finds out you’re here and not at home with your work, you’re going to be in for a galaxy of trouble.”  
“Maz, Maz, Maz, how is that any different than any other day of my life?”  
“You’re usually just in a world of trouble.”  
The man, Han, laughed and his friend chuckled and nodded his agreement. Maz popped the lid off two beer bottles and pushed them in front of the pair. “Now you two stay out of trouble and don’t bother the rest of my customers.” She glanced at Rey and winked. “Some of them are even respectable.”  
“Aw Maz, are you trying to say that I’m not respectable? My money is just as good as anyone else.”  
“Solo, your money usually comes from the pot of a sabacc game.” Maz raised a brow and walked away, ignoring Han’s sputtering.  
“She’s not wrong.” Grumbled the big man before taking a swig of beer.  
“No, doesn’t me she needed to say it though.”  
Rey couldn’t help herself. “You play sabacc? You any good?”  
Han turned to her and grinned. “I’ve been known to win a hand or two.”  
“Is it hard to learn how to play?” She popped that last bite of taco in her mouth.  
“You looking to learn?” Han grinned at her  
She swallowed the bite and grinned back. “You think you can teach?”   
“Hell, I taught my son to play, and if I can teach him, I can teach anyone.”  
Rey nodded. “Maybe next time I’m in you can show me how to win.”  
“Sure kid, next time.” Han laughed and let her be. Rey pulled out some of the cash she managed to liberate from Ben’s wallet over the last few months and put it under her glass to cover her bill before sliding off the stool and out of the bar. It was a twenty minute walk from Taco Daña to the safe house if she took the laneways, back alleys, and cut through the ravine that ran behind the property. She could probably get back into the yard before Ben got home and found her missing. The other agent was quite content to leave her be and that was okay with her. She needed her space and it was a nice break from the suffercating looming thing that Ben had been doing.  
If she went to the bathroom for too long, he pounded on the door. If she took too long in the walk-in closet, he bellowed from downstairs, or the office. It was like he had cameras everywhere in the house. She knew he had them outside of the house and just inside the doors, as well as sensors on all the windows and doors to track if they were open. She found that out the hard way when she opened the window in her room one night to let the cool summer breeze into her room. That's not an argument she wants to repeat ever again. He gave her flashbacks to a particularly awful foster parent, in fact, the one that left Rey with the need to flee to the safety of the streets. She snorted, living on the streets and safety should never be words said in any manner than sarcasm, but the truth was that if she hadn't fled, she'd probably have died at the hands of that family. Not that the foster system had done anything to help her when she told them. They were the "perfect" foster family.White, upper middle class, hetero, with three children of their own but they "wanted to support the kids that had no family of their own". More like they wanted personal punching bags with no repercussions.  
Rey stopped and took a steadying breath before she realized she was in front of the safe house. "Fuck!" She bolted to the end of the street and back tracked to the ravine and hurled herself over the fence. She boundce as she landed on the lawn chair, and not a moment too soon as the back patio door slid open and Ben stepped onto the deck.

.. - ... / .... .- .-. -.. / - --- / -... .-. . .- - .... .

Ben was sitting in his office, watching the cameras to figure out how Rey managed to escape when the live feeds showed Rey paused in front of the house. He was surprised she would be so ballsy, or stupid. The front door was too obvious and stupid of a choice for an escape. She stiffened as she glanced at the house before running as fast as she could out of the camera range. He chuckled to himself as he realized that she hadn't intended to find herself in front of the house, which means he should probably watch the back.  
He made his way downstairs and stood in the dark kitchen watching the fence line for the shadow he suspected to be Rey. He timed it for just after she threw herself onto the lawn chair under the tree before sliding the door open and stepping out. "Rey," he called. "Are you out here?"  
"Mmm, yup, where else would I be?"  
"I dunno, I was worried when I couldn't find you when I got home, I guess I missed you under the tree. Didn't you hear me calling you earlier?" He lied.  
"Nope, must have been asleep, sorry."  
He knew she was lying, but instead of confronting her about it like he would have before, he took Phasma's advice. "Well, if you're hungry, come in and eat. I brought home some Italian takeout tonight."  
She stood up and looked at him as if he'd grown two heads, and considering their history, he could understand her skeptism. "You're not going to yell at me?"  
"Will it do any good?"  
She shook her head. "Probably not."  
He shrugged. "Than why should I bother wasting yours and my time?" He turned and went inside. He didn't look back, just turned on the kitchen light and started spreading out the takeout containers across the kitchen island. Rey came in slowly and cautiously, watching him warily, and it took everything he could do not to smile. So he busied himself getting plates, glasses, and a bottle of wine. She sat down eventually, her shoulders stiff, as he popped the cork and offered her wine.  
"Ya, no thanks, someone told me that when I'm sad, I don't need alcohol to make it worse."  
Ben chuckled. "There's an old family friend of my father's who used to say that too. She also said whiskey and tempers are a terrible pair." He poured his own wine before putting the bottle back in the fridge. "Would you like something else?"  
"Water's good enough for me." She said after a moment.  
They ate in silence, Rey watching him when she thought he was focused on his food. But he watched from the corner of his eye, carefully waiting to see how long it would take her to relax.  
"Did you want any more?" He s=asked, breaking the silence. Rey immediately stiffened up more. Longer than this meal apparently.  
She shook her head and reached forward to start cleaning.  
"Don't worry about it, I got it. You go take care of BeeBeeAte and relax, you seem more stressed than normal today. I got this."  
Her mouth worked open and shut as she started at him. "But," she trailed off.  
"I mean it Rey, go do whatever is going to help you relax. This won't take more more than ten minutes." He made a shooing motion with his hands.  
She left the kitchen quickly, glancing back only when she was on the stairs. When she was out of sight again, he retrieved the wine from the fridge, poured himself another glass before airating it and storing it away properly. He sat back down at the island and pulled out his phone and pulled up the camera footage from inside the house. There Rey was, sitting beside the turtle's pool, talking at the cold blooded reptile.

... -- --- -.- . / .- -. -.. / -.. ..- ... - / -.-. .-.. --- ..- -.. ... / - .... . / ... -.- -.—

The third time Rey managed to sneak back out to Taco Dana was the second time she narrowly escaped Ben's notice that she was off property when she shouldn't have been. She stumbled in, exhausted but happy from playing sabacc with Han and Chewie. Maz insisted on feeding her virgin drinks, "to keep her wits about her around those cheaters". She was singing under her breath as she made her way up the stairs to her room.  
"Yeah, they sent the tax man, I lost my job and, I got hooked on oxy cotin. They shut the lights off, they took the car in, I bought a sawed off shot gun-" She stopped dead in her doorway.   
Her room was dark except for BeeBee's heat lamp, but on the chair beside BeeBeeAte was Ben, his hand dangling over the edge of the pool where BeeBee was, their attention completely focused on each other.  
"What are you doing to my turtle!" She exclaimed as she rushed forward, her sudden movement scaring BeeBee and he dove into the water and hid behind his sunning rock.  
"Darn, I almost had it." Ben muttered.  
"Almost had what? My turtle? How many times have I told you to stay away from him, he needs special treatment and a high-"  
"Special treatment and a high protein diet of fish and shrimp. I am aware and I have been listening. What I almost had, was your little turtle here, taking the shrimp out of my hand."  
Rey stopped. "You were trying to hand feed him? And it almost worked?"  
"Want to see?"  
Rey nodded and moved closer, her appearance at a non-breakneck spread coaxed the turtle from bis place of hiding and back towards them. A few friendly splashed of greeting later and Ben unforlded his hand and between his thumb and index was a freeze dried shrimp. He held it just above the water for BeeBee to come get on his own.  
To BeeBee's credit, he was hesitant to take the food from someone that was not Rey, but after a few patient minutes BeeBee finally took the shrimp from Ben.  
"I've never seen him do that with Finn, he'd only ever take food from me."  
"To be perfectly honest this has all been a big distraction," Ben said as he pulled another shrimp from a small container. "I've been trying to stop him from attacking the shrimp." He tilted his chin towards the clear plastic bag floating in the far side of the pool.  
"You bought him feeders?"  
"I did not, I brought him ghost shrimp. They should be good to help keep the tank clean while giving him something new to hunt." He chuckled as another shrimp was snapped away from his fingers. "If he doesn't befriend them first."  
Rey looked around the pool. "Speaking of, have you seen ArrToo?"  
"Was that the one that was missing a fin?"  
"Yes?" She looked at him, really studying him for a change, he was definitely not behaving that he had when they were both thrust into this situation. He might turn out to be tolerable eventually. "I didn't realize you spent enough time with the fish to recognize them."  
"I don't, but BeeBeeAte ate him when I first sat down. I think he was displaying his skill at being a threat."  
"Did you feel adequately threatened?" Rey couldn't help but laugh lighly.  
"I have reevaluated my desire to mess with his fish." Ben grinned. "So what was that you were singing, sounded, um, interesting."  
Rey took a moment to feel embarrassed. "Uh, SOS? Heard it on the radio, thought it was catchy. I don't even know who the band is."  
He hummed a moment before screwing the lid back onto the shrimp and handing the container over to Rey. "The Glorious Sons, my dad is a big fan. Check out Mama, think you'll like it." He got up to leave. "And the live shrimp should be good to release now."  
Rey stood and watched him leave the room before the sound of a turtle snapping at a plastic bag got her attention. She snagged the bag away from BeeBee and released the shrimp to freedom. Sort of.  


.. - ... / .- -. / .- -. -. .. .... .. .-.. .- - .. --- -.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OMG I am so sorry! New kitten and work has taken up all my time this week, I had no chance to write!  
> I hope this chapter keeps you happy and I swear I'll have next week's out on time on Wednesday
> 
> On the flip side, let me know what you think so far. I'm pretty sure that BeeBeeAte interactions are my favourite thing to write xD


	5. There is No Terror in My Heart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ben spends the day at the office and gets a surprise  
> Game Night Rey style  
> A big discovery  
> And Rey may have fucked things up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Last Time on Us or Them**  
>  Rey escapes for the evening  
> Kylo gets manipulation techniques from Phasma  
> Ben befriends the turtle (with food, because seriously, that's how you do it with turtles)

_Kira has been mostly restrained in her behavious in the safe house with the exception of three occasions where she felt it appropriate to leave the safe house without her handler knowing. She has been tracked on her wandering around the neighbourhood and to a local restaurant._

_This issue has yet to be addressed directly with Kira, but with some indirect actions have limited and mostly prevented her unapproved walks. This will be addressed directly within the week._

_Kira has displayed definite symptoms of prolonged containment, disassembled the toaster this week, and I found her in the basement trying to fix an old washer from the fifties. More stimulating projects needed to sustain longer confinement in the safe house. Will approach to discover if there is any interest in online college courses. Engineering or mechanics might fit Kira's profile. Will probably have to complete her GED first, her state of education is unknown and most likely incomplete._

Ben sat back at his desk in the office, he didn't go in very often because of his extra duty with protecting Rey, but he did have to go in once a week to check in, make an appearance, and follow up with his off-site cover story. He was even taking the time to file his reports on monitoring Rey, under the agreed upon aliases and secondary locations to cover their asses and tracks should everything go sideways, which Ben was expecting it to do. In his experience, it was as they said; no plan survives contact with the enemy. He had been dancing on a knife's edge for going on 14 years now, since Snoke first started to court him and pull him to the dark side of the Order.

Ben groaned and leaned back in his chair, he did not want to be thinking about this crap, and how his life got turned into a complex tangle of lies and looking over his shoulder. This year was his tenth anniversary working for the FBI and nine of it had been spent as a double agent of such. He stretched. Soon, if things go mostly to plan, he'd be done with the Final Order and FBI. He was sick of being everyone's puppet.

When he was born, he was his mother's puppet, used to show how she could be both a politician and a mother, granted, no one realized how shitty of a mother she had been. Then his father stepped in and decided to show off his son as the next big stunt driver, that didn't work out either. His uncle was the third one to puppet him out, trying to show off his high ability scores and groom him for law enforcement, which oddly enough, panned out. Later on in college, Snoke got to him but making him think he was nurturing Ben's own interests. It had taken more time than he'd like to admit before he realized that Snoke was a mastered narcissistic manipulator. But by the time he realized, he was almost too deep. Snoke wanted him in the FBI, so he'd have a high ranking pawn to control. Not a bad plan. Ben had been almost two years in Quantico by the time he accepted Snoke's invitation into the Final Order. And when he had done that, he had gone in with a plan. 

Ben had not always been the most behaved kid, which is why it surprised many that he had been accepted into Quatico, but he he had the marks and the know how, and he could see his uncle's hand in it. So he worked with that. Snoke knew of his temper, and encouraged it. But Ben had been working with a therapist for years, learning techniques to prevent the explosions that could cost him his career. But when he was Ren, he channeled that behaviour because it was what was expected and it was how Snoke thought he was controlling Ren. But in truth, it was going to be the other way around. Ben had been carefully documenting and tracking all information regarding the Final Order, his actions, and all actions that could and would incriminate and takedown Arm, Gwen, Snoke, and the illusive Paps. Ben was pretty sure he knew who Paps was, but he had yet to get an in-person meeting with the Puppet Master himself. Up until now, he has been dealing with Snoke diving out all the permissible information. But if he can get tangible evidence of Paps, he could take down the whole organization with everything he has collected. And potentially incriminate himself too, but that was a small cost compared to the damage the Order was doing to the East Coast.

He rolled his neck and it cracked loudly.

"Excuse me, Agent Solo?" A secretary, or maybe it was a PA, either way, he did not recognize them as they approached him. "The Director want's to see you, he has Senator Palpatine in his office."

"Thank you." Ben stood, smoothed out his trousers, slid on his blazer and did up the button, and ran a hand through his hair. He followed the PA, he assumed, to Director Skywalker's office and was left in front of the large oak doors to knock. Ben was not in the mood to do the political elbow rubbing that the Director's office demanded, but he didn't have much of a choice. He raised his fist and knocked on the door before opening it at the Director's behest.

"Thank you for coming in Agent Solo," the Director said, knowing full well Ben had no choice in the matter. "Senator Palpatine came in today to tour the facilities and asked if you could join us. You're reputation precedes you, it would appear."

Ben smiled nicely at the Senator. "Not sure what you've heard sir, but it's probably been exaggerated in the retelling."

"I've read the reports, my boy." Senator Palpatine put his hand out for Ben to shake. "Reports don't lie, and if they do, no one's been correcting them." The laugh was hollow and slightly wheezy.

"Of course sir, this is the FBI, it's our job to ensure those reports aren't lies. Now where were you planning on seeing today?"

**... .... . ... / - .... . / .--. .- .-- -. / - --- / .... .. ... / -.- .. -. --.**

Rey looked at her watch, it had been weird getting used to wearing it and not having a cellphone to look at every five minutes, but it also meant she was less likely to lose it. Detectives Devon and Kaydel were sitting at the kitchen table playing cards, when Rey yawned. It was a fake yawn, but hopefully they didn't notice. 

"I fold, guessing Ben's going to be really late tonight?" Rey said, putting down her cards.

Devon glanced between his cards and his cell. "Looks like it, last communication said he was stuck doing some politicaling with the Director and a senator. Do not envy that job."

"Ugh," agreed Kaydel. "There's a reason I don't go to the Policeman's Ball any more."

"Pretty sure that's because you got kicked out of the last one for drunk and disorderly." Devon laughed and tossed more chips into the centre of the table.

"Ya, I was quite fine being drunk, thank you very much." She looked at her cards and nodded, pushing all her chips in. "All in."

"You got kicked out of the Policeman's Ball?" Repeated Rey. "For being drunk and disorderly? Now I've got to hear this story!"

"I was containing my drunk just fine until some guy made a pass at me and grabbed my ass. So I grabbed his wrist and put it behind his back while having a few particular words about what would happen if he ever did it again." She laid her cards on the table. "Full house baby!"

"Damn," muttered Devon laying out his flush. "What she's not telling you is that she had the guy pinned to the wall, his wrist practically at the back of his neck, and happened to be a very predominant business man and friend to Chief Organa and Han Solo."

"Han Solo?" Rey was surprised at the mention of her sabacc partner.

"Ya, the Chief's husband." Devon clarified. "Anyway Kaydel got off with a warning, and so did Luther?"

"Lando." Kaydel grimaced. "Lando Calrisian."

"Right," Devon chuckled as they collected the cards and started shuffling again. "Founder of the Cloud City. You in this round?"

"I think I'm going to check on BeeBee and head to bed, all this sitting around doing nothing is really exhausting."

"Doing nothing, huh?" Laughed Kaydel. "Is that what you call disassembling all of the old machines in the basement?"

"Oh gods, did Ben tell on me?" Rey groaned as she headed to the stairs.

"Not specifically. But he does have to file reports and that's the kind of thing that makes them interesting, otherwise they're super dry and boring."

"I'm glad I can keep you entertained." Rey said dryly. "Night."

She went upstairs, puttered around, had a short shower, and made her bed look like she was wrapped up in the bed, with a towel around her head. She slipped into dark clothes and got incredibly lucky that Kaydel went to the washroom the same time that Devon went for another drink in the kitchen allowing Rey to sneak out to the back door without being seen.

**-... ..- - / ... .... . / -- --- ...- . ... / .-.. .. -.- . / .- / --.- ..- . . -.**

Rey arrived at the Taco Daña to find the place busy. Instead of finding a seat at the bar like she normally did to order, Rey figured she'd move into the back room to see if Han and Chewie were there and up for a game or three of sabacc.

She pushed the door open and suddenly all conversation in the room came to a halt. Rey looked up and her face lit up, across the room was Finn! Except he did not look happy to see her, neither did Han or Chewie for that matter. "What's going on here?" She demanded as the door closed behind her. "Why's Finn here?"

"Why are you here Rey?" Finn demanded in return.

"I came for a game of sabacc, did you too?" She could feel the bite in her tone, it wasn't intentional, but she was feeling angry at the cold greeting.

"You shouldn't be here Rey, you should be in the safe house." Finn said firmly. 

Han looked between Rey and Finn. "This is the girl you and my son have been protecting?" He levelled his gaze on Rey. "If I'd had known I'd never have agreed to the sabacc, you need to get to safety asap kid."

"No." Rey shook her head and stood defiantly before the three men. "I'm not going anywhere until I find out what's going on."

Finn groaned and rubbed his face with both hands. "Might as well explain, she won't leave otherwise."

The three men looked between themselves before Finn groaned again. "Fine, fine. I'm sure your handler has explained that they've got us basically off the books because they're not quite sure how far the Final Order corruption extends within law enforcement. They suspect their fingers are deep which is why they always get their witnesses. Well, Chief Organa's husband has been my handler because he's not part of any department and he's got a bit of a history of smuggling."

Han nodded, "I'd call it more unquestioned relocation myself."

Chewie laughed something no one seemed to understand.

Han nodded. "Yes, and that's why I never got into law enforcement, I wasn't good at the rules part. Seems you aren't either. Does my son know you're here?"

Rey shook her head. "That's real dangerous kid, what if someone from the Order spotted you and grabbed you between the safe house and here? He'd never know what happened to you, and they'd lose the entire case they have built up because their one material witness is gone."

Rey grimaced. "No one's going to notice me, we're not even in the same city." 

"Ya, I figured the same thing, but someone made us and so we're here, hunkering down until my contact gets here with some things so we can move to a new spot to keep Mikko here safe."

"Can I have a few minutes to at least say hi to my friend?"

"Rey, you two should not be risking making the Order's lives any easier." Han tried.

"I'm already here, one hug, that's all I'm asking." Rey insisted. 

Han eventually gave in and Rey threw herself at Finn, wrapping her arms around him in the tightest of hugs. "Are you okay? Is he feeding you? Are you going crazy yet? I missed you so much Finn! So so much!"

"I miss you too peanut, you good? BeeBeeAte okay?"

Rey nodded into his shoulder. "He's wet and fussy, so he's fine. I'm going crazy out of bordem, I don't think I've ever spent this much time in a house in my entire life. You'd think I'd love it, but it's not as fun when I can't leave and I don't have my best friend."

Finn held her out from him. "Hey, I'll be back, we'll be back. It's just going to take a while. But then it'll all be over and it'll be just like the old days."

Rey nodded. "I hate it when you're the wise one."

Finn laughed. "Ya, well, you're the one that always runs head first into trouble, so I gotta balance you out."

The door to the room swings open and everyone freezes. "Lando!" Calls out Han. "You old dog, how are you doing!"

"Good, good Han, I see you're up to your old tricks again. And calling me to get you out of trouble." The new, dark skinned man laughed. "Chewie, what conditioner are you using? You're putting my looks to shame with that mane."

Han turned to Rey. "This is your queue kid, time to bounce. But keep an eye on the junk mail, I'll see if I can't rig a way to keep you two in touch without getting in too much trouble with my boy."

Rey nodded, gave Finn one last hug before leaving.

  
**... .... . ... / .- / -- . .- -. ... / - --- / .- -. / . -. -..**

"Are you telling me," bellowed Snoke. "That you had the traitor and you lost him? Can you at least tell me who is supposed to be watching him? What agency? What agent?" 

"No sir," Hux shook his head. "It was no one I recognized and there was no uniform. Didn't even move like a police officer of any type."

Snoke looked like she was fuming. "That boy can bring down most of you and the other knights, and you lost him! I will not accept this failure! You get back out there, and you find the traitor and his little girlfriend and you bring their corpses to me!"

Phasma, Hux, and Ren exchanged glances. 

"For every time you fail to bring them to me, I will take it from your hides. Now go!"

Ren knew he was running out of time to get what he needed from the Finn, and he was going to need Rey's help to get it.

**.- / ... .- -.-. .-. .. ..-. .. -.-. .. .- .-.. / .-.. .- -- -...**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Special shoutout goes to Dirtkid123 who has commented on every chapter (which I really appreciate)!
> 
> I've got a major plot point of every chapter written from seven and on, so turning out the chapters should be easier from then on. I hope people are enjoying this because I've definitely been struggling. Though, this is the first time I've pants'd a story as I've posted it instead of writing it all first, which I think I'll do in the future if I keep writing.


	6. No Dread of the Unkown

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leia teaches Rey to play sabacc  
> Kylo discovers something important about the traitor  
> Rey skips out on her nighttime protection

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Last Time on Us or Them:**  
>  Ben is forced to schmooze with Director Skywalker and Senator Palpatine  
> Rey breaks out of the safe house (again) and finds out that Finn's handler is Han Solo  
> The Knights of Ren are extra motivated to find and clean up Rey and Finn.

"I have to go onsite for a situation analysis of another case, you can behave?" Ben looked down at his mother. It wasn't that he was trying to talk down to her, but that she was a foot shorter than him. Maybe he spoke down to her a little, she could be very good at taking the word of the law to task and running with the spirit of the law. It's what had made her a nightmare in the political realm and even worse in the precinct.

"Yes dear. Rey and I will keep well enough entertained. Perhaps I'll dig up your father's sabacc table and deck and teach her to play." Leia replied casually, ignoring his tone.

Ben fought to not roll his eyes at her. "As lead field agent on this assignment I feel the need to emphasis the directions and formally request you abide by them."

"As chief of the station that brought in the two key witnesses, I formally request you relax. I know what I'm doing."

"Right," Ben grumbled before adding, under his breath, "sure you do."

He straightened his tie and shifted his weight. "I should be back no later than 11pm tonight, there's a bit of travel time involved, I trust you have this in hand."

Rey stepped forward and put her body between the chief and Ben. "We'll be fine. You go do your thing, we'll be here, watching something on TV."

Ben nodded. "Keep her out of the wine, any alcohol actually, but the wine especially. All cops seem to be alcoholics." He glared at his mother over Rey's shoulder.

Leia just shrugged in return. "It's cheaper than therapy, and far easy to get a hold of."

This time Ben didn't hold the eye roll back as he picked up his brief case from the table. Inside were his change of clothes for under his leathers, he was going to see after a few loose ends for Snoke and Paps. Leaving the two women, he took his car to a garage he paid a little extra to ask no questions where he kept his bike. It was an old 1953 Indian Falcon with a custom paint job and branded the Millenium for some unknown reason. Some idiot had lost it in a game of cards and had been rusting away in a junk yard for years before he found it and had it restored.

He changed into his leathers, put on his helmet, and tore off onto the dusk kissed roads. He had two distributors to remind of their priorities and contracts with the Final Order, and a short visit with Malarus, the head of the Order's cleaning and disposal services.

"I've been expecting you." The older woman said as she swung the non-descript door open. "Come in, come in."

Ben stepped through the door, Kylo persona completely in control. Silently he looked around, never saying anything.

"Sit down, can I get you anything to drink?"

Kylo raised a brow to the offer, unseen behind the visor of his helmet. It was the normal dance. Malarus would offer, Kylo would say nothing, Malarus would bring him a bottle of water she'd crack in front of him, and a curly straw. One of those bright coloured ones a person could find at a carnival or a grocery store. Kylo always cracked the visor just enough to slip the straw in, but never far enough to be seen. The dance was something of a comfort.

Malarus returned with the predicted water and straw, and sat down opposite of him with bottle of clear cream soda and her own straw. They sat in quiet comfort while they enjoyed their drinks. When Kylo was finished, he snapped the visor down. Malarus put down her bottle, got up, and retrieved the thick envelope of money, putting it on the table in front of Kylo. 

Usually this was when Kylo would pick it up, slip it into a pocket, and leave. But a thought stopped him. "You remember The Finn, don't you?"

"Of course, hard worker, smart too. Always kept his head down and eyes to himself."

"You used him a lot, more than the other cleaners, why?"

"Because the kid was efficient and meticulous. Used him more for high profile cleaning than any of the others because I knew he wouldn't leave behind traces. Some of those others," he shook his head. "Ended up being more of a mess than what they were hired to clean." The allusion was left very clearly hanging.

"He lasted longer than most do too, didn't he?"

She nodded. "Most last two years, three max, but The Finn? He lasted nearly eight. Shame about that last job, I was grooming him to take over for me when I was retired."

That got Kylo's attention. "What about his last job?"

"Standard redistribution, make it look like a gang fight, Snoke said. But some little brunette junk rat came along and get herself mixed up. Tried to stop it from being set properly, thought she was doing a Good Thing. One of the knights, Vicrul I think, put her down, made us redistribute the scene again. The Finn took it real hard. Left shortly after that."

Kylo paused, it couldn't be. "What did she look like?"

"Scrappy, thin brown hair, elfin. Probably could have been pretty is she didn't look like she'd just crawled out of a junk yard. If she had a shower and maybe got a few meals in her she could have been beautiful, but," she shrugged as the girl meant nothing to her but a distant memory. "Definitely homeless. Did her a favour, girl like that in a world like this, she wouldn't have lasted much longer before turning tricks. Or being forced to." The older woman shrugged again.

"And you're sure she was cleaned?"

"You asking if Vicrul messed up?"

"I'm asking if anything could have been amiss. Mistakes happen, shots can go slightly astray, bleeds can be stopped." 

"It was a shot straight here." She tapped the spot just left of the sternum, where the heart was. "Took her a while to bleed out, she wheezed a whole lot. Think that's probably what got to The Finn so hard. Clearing bodies is one thing, they already dead. But watching them be made, that takes a special kinda stomach."

"Thanks." Kylo nodded and turned to leave. What are the odds? He let the information stew in the back of his head. He turned suddenly in the closing doorway. "What do you mean he cleaned most of the high profile jobs?" His voice was cold and hard.

"I said I was grooming him. Kids last a few years doing this work, four max before I end up cleaning them up too. But The Finn was good, he was smart, he saw everything that needed to be done and fixed. Had a real good head on his shoulders. He did five years of cleaning for me. Good cleaning, meticulous. What I wouldn't do to have him back again, if for nothing else than another set of eyes."

"Which means he knew who called in which cleaning jobs?"

Malarus nodded. "Sure. Did your paperwork too. Steal trap of a mind, he remembered everything as if it were a photograph."

Kylo stiffened. "I need you to make me a copy of each and every job he was on and every report he filed"

"We got a problem?"

"Not one that can't be fixed." 

"Will you be needing my services?"

Kylo paused. "I'll let you know." He then turned and left, climbing onto his bike and speeding down the now dark street.

**.... . ... / - .... . / .... .- -. -.. / --- ..-. / --. --- -..**

Rey leaned back in her chair and regarded her hand one last time as she picked up her slice of pizza and shoved it unceremoniously into her mouth. "Ize."

Leia cocked her head to the side as she took a swig of her root beer. "What was that?"

Rey swallowed and tossed two more chips into the centre of the table. "Raise."

Leia smirked. "Are you sure you want to do that?"

"We'll find out." Rey grinned.

"Alright." Leia matched the chips and dealt out one more card to herself. "Fuck, I just bombed."

Rey grinned and flipped her cards. "Idiot's Array."

"Well fuck you too." She grinned widely at Rey. "Beginner's luck."

The two women demolished the two pizzas, wings, and potatoe wedges, as well as six bottles of root beer. Rey had put her foot down, no alcohol. Leia wasn't stuck living with Ben, she didn't have to deal with his grumpy ass if he found the empties. Leia agreed to settle on the root beer because at least it had beer in it's name.

A few more hands and Leia had to admit Rey was good, it wasn't just beginner's luck, it was skill. "You play like my husband, remind me never to introduce you two." Leia laughed at the end of the night. "So Detective Devon is on their way, be here in about ten minutes, so I'm going to pack up my shit and head back to the office."

"Not going home?"

She shook her head, "no rest for the wicked. If crime doesn't sleep, I can't either."

Rey snorted. "Okay there Batman. What about your husband? Won't he miss you?"

Leia's eyes crinkled with the size of her grin. "That old coot, it he was even home, sleeps like the dead. Wouldn't know if a bear climbed into bed with him, let alone me. No, he's away doing what he does best, running from trouble."

"He's in trouble?"

Leia laughed. "He isn't unless he gets caught. He's been ducking trouble his entire life, I'll be surprised if it ever catches up to him. Good man, but has a knack for getting himself into situations he has no right to be in."

"Devon's early, excellent." Leia hefted her bag onto her shoulder. "Be good kid, don't do anything I wouldn't do."

"I'll try." Rey replied as Leia left and Devon walked in and dropped themselves onto the couch.

"Man, am I exhausted!" They groaned.

"Are you even allowed to used gendered terms like that if you're nonbinary?" Rey grinned, tossing the TV remote at Devon, if they had the TV going, they tended to leave her alone for the evening.

"Oh har har har, look who thinks she's a comedian." Devon flashed her some pearly whites. "You tucking in for the night kiddo?"

"I'm not a kid."

They snickered. "Right, you're half my age, you're a damned kid and it's past your bedtime. Run along and I'll read you a bedtime story."

Rey rolled her eyes. "Ya, I'll take a hard pass on that. I am going to bed, but I don't think you're going to need to tuck me in, or read me a bedtime story. Once Upon A Time never really did it for me."

"Oh," they laughed. "You seem to be under the impression I tell Disney stories. No way. If it doesn't have a body count, why bother? It's the original Grimm's or bust!"

Rey laughed. "Okay, okay, you can tell me one next time."

**... .... . ... / - .... . / .-- .- .-. / --- -. / .... .. ... / .-.. .. .--. ...**

Leia sat in her car, motor off, and watched Rey's shadow move about upstairs. She had an inkling that Rey was going to be up to no good. Between Ben's reports outlining how she regularly was ditching her evening watch in favour of galavanting off property and the fact that the defiant child had been extra easy going tonight, Leia suspected her of planning to ditch Devon again tonight. On top of that, Rey hadn't turned on a light in her room as she got ready for bed was highly suspicious, suspicious enough that Leia called Ben.

"Yes?" Came her son's deep voice over the the car's speaker phone.

"You planning on coming home any time soon?"

"I'm two blocks away." He grumbled into the phone.

"Oh goodie. May I make a suggestion?" Leia was amused at Ben's gruffness, definitely gets it from his father.

"Is there any way to stop you?"

She ignored him. "Don't go in through the house, just wait in the back yard, I think she's trying to take off tonight."

"I already know what she does."

"So you know that Han has been teaching her to play sabacc than?"

"What?" He roared into the phone. Through the rear view mirror she could see his car jerk as his foot must have slipped and accidentally hit the break. "What do you mean Han's been in contact with her?"

"Well, I assume it's either Han, Chewie, or Lando. No one else plays sabacc with smuggler's rules around here. And now that I think of it, isn't Maz's place within walking distance from here?" She heard Ben groan as his car pulled to the curb behind hers. He got out of the car and walked up to her window. She rolled it down.

"You mean Tocodana?" He asked as he put a hand on the roof and hunched over her window

"It's Taco Daña dear."and 

"Whatever. She still running those back room games?"

"You mean the illegal ones the local police shut down every year or so, probably. You know Maz, always knows about it in advance somehow."

"Yes," agreed Ben as he narrowed his eyes art her. "Funny how one of her most loyal players happens to be married to the chief in Chandrila."

"I'm not sure I appreciate what you're insinuating here Ben, my control ends ove 80 miles north of here. And speaking of control, just how do you plan to control your feisty charge?" Leia brought the conversation back around.

"I haven't decided between explaining the risks to her, or scaring the shit out of her."

"Ben, language!"

**. ...- . .-. -.-- - .... .. -. --. / .. ... / .-. .- --.. --- .-. / -... .-.. .- -.. . ... / --- -. / .-- .... .. .--. ...**

Ben stared dumbly at his mother, did she seriously just admonish him for swearing? She who could make a sailor blush with her command of profanities? "You do not get to start on me for my language when yours needs a complete overhaul. I may take your advice and slip into the back and wait on her, you keep an eye on the front, just in case she does something different."

His mother nodded and he pushed away from her car and quietly unlached the back gate and slip into the shadow of the large oak, concealed from Rey's eyes. Though he suspected that she'd be more focused on Devon than on the potential of Ben being in the yard with her. 

He stood, shrouded in the darkness, watching for movement in the kitchen and thinking. His head turning over the new information he had learned today about the traitor. What was so special about that girl the caused him to run? Ben never would have pegged The Finn as queasy or lily livered, so there had to be more to the story than he knew yet. Maybe he'd reach out to his father and have a sit down with Myrsky and sort some of this out. He let his thoughts run their circles in the back of his head, because when one was on a stake out, you can't use your cellphone, it's too distracting and you're liable to miss something important.

Important things like your suspect trying to sneak out of the back patio doors like Rey currently was, she soundlessly slid the patio door open and was sneaking out of the house. He stayed concealed and made a mental note to degrease those doors so they wouldn't move as easily or quietly, he waited to catch Rey in a position she couple not deny him in. He was also curious to find out if she went over the back fence, or through the gate, though the gate seems significantly more risky, he bet on the fence.

Rey had just jumped up and was swinging a leg over the fence when he cleared his throat. Rey looked frantically over her shoulder before seeing his shadow leaning casually against the tree, arms crossed.

"Well fuck."

"Well fuck indeed." Ben replied dryly.

**... .... .- - - . .-. . -.. / -... .-. --- -.- . -. / ... -.-. .-. . .- -- .. -. --.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's a little early, but I had time at work on my lunches to work on this chapter. I still aim to have a chapter out on Wednesday this week too, don't worry.


	7. Desire for Paradise to Be

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Strong Rey has a weak moment  
> Hard Agent Solo is a soft boi  
> Finn is panicking  
> Hux is on to something here
> 
> TW: Slight allusion to human trafficking (Hux's section)  
> Comment about dead children (Han/Finn's section) it's about dark humour as a coping mechanism, no details or a plot point at all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Last time on Us or Them:**  
>  Leia figures out that Rey knows Han because of how she plays sabacc  
> Kylo starts putting together pieces of Finn's knowledge of the Order and what caused his abrupt departure (and who is this ratty old brunette????)  
> Rey gets caught straddling the fence during her escape attempt, whoops.

“Well fuck.” Rey groaned.

“Well fuck indeed.” Ben replied dryly. His arms were crossed over his broad chest as he leaned backwards onto the trunk of the tree. He had picked the perfect place to hide, she realized, he was shrouded in shadow, couldn’t be seen from the patio door, and none of the light from the kitchen reached him. But he did have a clear line of sight to where she had one ankle thrown over the wooden fence.

“I really hope that’s a new type of yoga and that you’re not actually trying to commit a jail break.” Ben said, making no effort to hide his amusement. She guessed that by the look on her face, he could probably tell that she was trying to think of a valid reason for her predicament. “Because I’ve gotta tell you Rey, I’m not sure what else this could be."

“What if I told you I was playing catch with BeeBeeAte and his frisbee went over the fence?”

“At,” he looked at his wrist watch. “Ten forty-two in the evening?”

“Have you met that turtle? His sleep schedule is more messed up than mine!”

“I’m not buying it Rey, try again.”

She groaned internally. “Would you believe me if I told you Lassie came and told me Timmy is stuck in a well? Or rather, the ravine?"

“Not even in the slightest.” 

“What about chasing the rabbit that’s been ravaging the garden?” She tried again.

He looked around at the plain yard full of grass and and the occasional dandelion. “Nope.”

She sighed and slouched, balanced precariously on the wood, it was becoming uncomfortable and painful as the wood bit into her ankle. “Fine, I was trying to sneak out to go get dinner and surprise you.”

He raised a brow. “Right, because you’ve finally decided to play your roll in this house and pretend like we’re married.” He took a threatening step towards her. “Try again Rey, and this time you really want me to believe you.”

He could tell by the look in her eye that she was trying to judge how far she could get before he caught her, how fast he could jump the fence. “I wanted to see Finn.” She admitted.

That got his attention. “And you know where he is?”

She bit her lip and barely nodded.

“That’s dangerous Rey, what if the Final Order is watching you, waiting for you to sneak away to him? You could be getting both of you killed, is that what you want?”

She bit her lip hard enough that it was starting to go white around her teeth, her eyes moistening up. “I miss him Ben. He’s the only family I’ve ever had and I miss him, you don’t know what it’s like.”

He closed the space to the fence and rolled Rey off the fence and into his arms so he could carry her into the house. She didn’t fight him as he walked to the living room and sat on the couch. Devon did a double take and stood up.

“On that note, I think I’m going to tap out. I assume you aren’t needing my assistance any more this evening?” They rambled as the walked to the front door and slid on their shoes.

“Naw, I got it from here.” Ben said as he pulled the blanket off the back of the couch, and wrapped it around her. “Sorry to cut your shift short, but turns out someone’s been sneaking around on us.”

Devon looked straight at Rey who refused to meet their eye. “So the reports weren’t an exaggeration, do you have any idea how much you’re putting at risk?”

She shook her head. Having Ben upset with her was one thing, but Devon and Kaydel had been so caring and protective of her and Finn at the precinct and at the safe house that she felt extra guilty. They shrugged and opened the door. “Heh, you’ll get her sorted Solo, I’m bouncing. I get paid the same whether I’m driving back to Chandrila or sitting on your couch.” Devon was out the door, the lock quietly sliding into place.

Now that they were alone, Rey’s mind was spinning. She had let Ben pick her up and carry her inside. She totally could have fought him off, gotten him to drop her. She probably could have gotten Devon involved too. After all, she didn’t survive on the streets for most of her life without learning how to deal with people bigger than her. She definitely let him move her around, she wasn’t trying to convince herself of that. Fuck. Yes she was. Damn it!

She grumbled and buried her face into the blanket Ben had buried her in. The only other person who had ever taken the time to recognize she was hurting was Finn. Once he had collected every throw blanket, every hole-filled blanket, and the two winter blankets they had in their flat and just dumped them on top of her. While she had been struggling to unearth herself, he had taken the pillows from the couch and was balancing them on their ends. It was the first time she’d ever been in any kind of blanket fort, and once Finn had explained it to her, they converted the living room into one giant one for a month! It was one of her most treasured memories and it made her sad because it was about Finn. She pushed her face further into the blanket so Solo wouldn’t see her tear up.

Rey felt him tense up under her before picking her up and moving her to curl on the couch. He left her there a moment before coming back with another blanket and tucking the two tightly around her and walking away again. She sniffled as she heard him moving around in the kitchen, cupboard doors opening and closing, the fridge, the sound of the gas stove being turned on, a spoon in a pot. Curious, but not wanting to leave the bubble of warmth the blankets gave her, she stayed on the couch and waited.

She was stirred from the blankets by the sound of two mugs being set on the table, and then Ben shifted and moved her so he was against him as she sat down. He leaned forward, careful not to push her over as he retrieved their mugs and waited for her to extricate her arm enough to take it.

“You made hot chocolate.” She was surprised.

“From scratch. Trepeayo used to make it for me after I’d gotten into an especially heated argument with my parents.”

“Trepeayo?”

Ben sighed and leaned back into the couch. “Cecil Trepeayo, my nanny. Used to be my mother’s nanny back in the day too. That man is older than old but refuses to give up. And a nosey bastard too, always needs to know what’s happening. But despite his flaws, he raised me best he could, all things considered.”

Rey sat quietly, it wasn’t often Ben offered insight or information about himself. Well, that’s not entirely true, over the last nine months he had shared little things, and lots of them, but nothing substantial. Nothing really about what made him him. It was like he was offering her crumbs so she’d do the same. But those crumbs made her nervous, like he was just doing a job and she was a means to an end, but he wanted her to feel like more? Did that even make sense? She wanted to like him, and she wanted to trust him, but everything up until now felt performative. She had years of built up trust issues and a finely tuned intuition, and this felt like it might have a chance of honesty. She kept her mouth closed.

“You’re right,” he said eventually. “Earlier when you said I don’t know what it’s like to be separated from the only person I could call family.” He agreed. “But I do know what it’s like to be alone and invisible, all while being surrounded by the people that are supposed to care for and protect you.”

Rey stayed silent, instead just curling further into the blanket and pulling the mug of hot chocolate with her. It was rich and sweet and tasted like pure chocolate with a hint of something, she’d have to ask him later so she could try and make it for her and Finn.

“My mother, you’ve met, so you know she’s a whirlwind of activity and action. My father, whom you have also met, is a different kind of whirlwind and action. My mother stayed on the politics and legal side of everything where as my father used to be a smuggler. And I wouldn’t bet even five bucks that he’s retired. Everyone knows my father from amateur racing, made quite the name for himself there. And mom, well she went from politics to thinking she could make an actual difference in the police force. With their busy lives and professional responsibilities, they regularly forgot about their other commitments. Like me.” He took a long sip of his hot chocolate. “I was practically raised by Trepeayo and Artoo, his partner, and for a hot minute, my uncle too. But the lack of family and rules led to a lot of acting out. I wasn’t a good child, and I definitely probably did more than my fair share of rebelling, and I sometimes wonder that if it weren’t for the family names, where would I be right now?” He snorted. “Probably in a gang or in jail.”

There was a long pause, Ben wasn’t saying anything more it seemed. “Hate to break it to you,” Rey said eventually. “But you are kinda in a gang.”

His head snapped towards her, eyes sharp, lips pressed thin. His reaction puzzled her.

“You know,” she tried to use her hand only to be reminded that it was trapped beneath the blankets. “FBI is kinda a gang. You’ve got hand signs for greeting each other and communicating without words, you’re suspicious of everyone around you, you have your own colours to distinguish yourselves, you’ve got rival gangs to contend with.”

“Rival gangs?” He asked, a small smile softening his face.

“Ya, CIA, Homeland, local law enforcement, ICE. And sure, you’ve got to deal with Hell’s Angels, and Bloods ’nd Crips, Black Guerrilla Family, every Italian and Irish family out there, but I bet those are easier to get along with.”

“You have a very interesting way of looking at things.” He took a careful sip before turning his body to face her. “Now tell me Rey, why did you ever think it was a good idea to risk your and Finn’s safety? I thought he was your only family, are you trying to get him killed?”

Rey froze, her heart stopped and she couldn’t breathe. Was that really what she was doing?

.. ... / .... . / .-.. --- ... - / - --- / - .... . / -.. .- .-. -.- -. . ... …

“Han, where is she? She’s late!” Finn paced the back room at the Taco Daña.

“She’s fine kid, now sit down.” Han groaned and looked at Chewie. “He’s giving me anxiety just watching him.”

Chewie shrugged and articulated for the first time in a long time. “Can’t really blame him, you were the same way with Leia.”

“Ya, can we not talk about Rey like she’s my wife, she’s my best friend.”

Han laughed loudly. “Sure, right kid, whatever you say. I’m definitely that protective over Chewie and I’ve known him longer than I’ve known my wife.”

Chewie grumbled loudly.

“What?” Han shot back defensively. “I’ve definitely risked my neck for you at least a dozen times!”

Chewie stared at Han, holding his gaze but saying nothing.

“Okay, five or six.”

Chewie still said nothing.

“Three times?”

“Two.” Rumbled Chewie. “You’ve risked your neck for me two times.”

“One of those times was quite literally!” Han shot back. Both men glared at each other before cracking up. 2172

Finn glared at both men in return. “Is everything a damned joke to you? Rey could be dead in a ditch somewhere and you’re cracking jokes about-“

Han rounded on Finn, his body language suddenly from the languid relaxed pose that Finn was used to seeing the man hold to something more controlled. Finn knew that sudden changes like that weren’t accidental, they were the results of years of training to appear one way. Kylo Ren was a master of that particular skill as well, when he thought no one was looking, his whole body language changed extremely. A shiver ran through his whole body as he was reminded of Ren.

“Listen kid, do you know why emergency services and military personnel have a dark sense of humour?” Finn shook his head. “It’s a coping mechanism for stress. When the shit hits the fan on the regular, and you’re used to seeing the wort of the worst from people, you either fall into doing the same to others, or you compensate with a warped sense of humour. Some of the best and darkest jokes I’ve heard are from people who work with dead children. It helps to keep you from becoming emotionally involved with things you can’t change. You might want to take a page from them.”

Chewie mumbled something again. 

“He’s right you know,” Han spoke at Finn but motioned at Chewie. “She’s not that far away, if she’s in a ditch it’s probably because she tripped. She’ll just dust herself off and demand an extra beer when she gets here.”

“Wait, how do you know where she is? Let’s go get her!” Finn grabbed his sweater off the back of the chair.

“Wait kid, wait!” Han raised his voice for the first time since Finn was placed with him. “Yes I know where her safe house is, no I will not take you to her. I am not leading the Order to you, her, or anyone else. I refuse to make their job any easier than it already is, and yes, I’m talking about the two of your insisting on seeing each other. You’re going to get each other killed."

“I won’t, I just need to make sure she’s safe!”

“Goddamn it, can you sit down!” Finn immediately dropped into a chair and Han relaxed back into the languid body language he usually was in. “Thank you. Take a breath. Remember, Rey is a strong woman, she’s a survivor, and she will either arrive late or text you. She’s got the burner, remember?”

“Right. She’ll text!” Finn dug out the phone from Han’s jacket on the back of his chair. Han rolled his eyes but did nothing to stop him. “She hasn’t texted.”

“She may have been stopped by her handler, why don’t you tell me the story of why you’re so loyal to the kid?”

Finn nodded. “We met under not so good circumstances, I was working a job for the Final Order when she came stomping into the place like she owned it. She was a force to be reckoned with back than, she still is now. But she decided that I wasn’t as bad as everyone else, she trusted me to help her out of a pickle she’d gotten into and that was that. She was the first person who saw me as more than a Big Scary Black Man, it was a refreshing change. Turns out her heart is in the wrong place for the life she got, but it turned out to be one of her biggest strengths.” Finn chuckled. “It’s also how she ended up with that damned turtle of hers.” He let out a full laugh.

Chewie rumbled.

“He’s got a point,” agreed Han. “What’s the deal with her turtle anyway?"

“He has a hole on the underside of his shell. You can see the heart pump, it’s kinda creepy really, looks like it’s going to fall out. But Rey had found the poor thing in the grass when she was scavenging furniture for our new apartment, a shit hole really, but it was ours. But she managed to drag home a couch on an old skateboard, and BeeBeeAte in a cardboard box.

“She spent that afternoon in the library and a bunch of pet stores trying to figure out how to care for the damned thing. He lived in our tub for a week. A week! Did you know they produce salmonella naturally? I was scared of showering without shoes for months after that! It took her a week of scavenging and pickpocketing to have enough to get a turtle tank set up for him. Six years later, she still has the damned thing, when all the pet stores said it probably wouldn’t live. I learned something about Rey with BeeBeeAte, fastest way to get her to do something is to tell her no, or that it can’t be done. She’ll always find a way.” Finn looked down at the dark phone in his hands.

“Don’t worry kid, she’ll show."

.-- .. .-.. .-.. / .... . / ... ..- .-. ...- .. ...- .

Ben sat comfortably on the couch, Rey had shuffled herself to the far end, away from him, and he found that he missed her weight against his side. But considering the topic and conversation they were about to have, it was probably better with some space between them. He’d be less likely to get distracted.

“Every time you slip your surveillance, you’re putting yourself at risk Rey. You’re putting yourself, Finn, BeeBeeAte, and myself at risk. You are putting Devon and Kaydel and Chief Organa at risk. Every time you go to Taco Daña, you’re putting Han and Chewie and Finn at risk. Maz and all of her regulars at risk.” Ben shifted slightly so he sat taller, rolling his shoulders forward a touch to give the impression that he was much bigger than her. “The Final Order doesn’t play around. And I wouldn’t be surprised if they put out an order on you two that didn’t care about collateral. It would be a great way to set an example and leave an impression on all law enforcement agencies that might stand to interfere with them. They have a lot of reach and a lot of power Rey. Do you understand this?”

“I know what the Order can do, trust me, I know as well as anyone!” She shot back at him. “But they’re not here!”

“Rey, the Order is everywhere. They’re in every agency. They’re in every precinct. They’re people walking their dogs down the street, parents watching their kids in the playground. They are everywhere! All it takes is one photo of you in the background, one accidental glimpse on a street, one bump in the bar with someone who knows they’re looking for you. Do you understand?"

Rey nodded. She hadn’t thought quite how dangerous her slipping away for an evening was. She knew it was risky, which is why she always chose evenings for the cover of dark, but it was only ever her she thought she was risking. Not everyone else too. She sighed as the burner phone buzzed. She froze and hoped Ben hadn’t heard.

“What was that?” His eyes narrowed at her.

“Nothing?”

“Rey, I thought we covered that you need to make me believe you if you’re going to waste my time with lies.” Ben crossed his arms over his broad chest. “Now, explain to me why I heard a cellphone buzz that was not mine and we both know you’re definitely not supposed to have one.”

“Because it’s my burner.”

He raised a brow. “And how did you manage to find a burner phone?”

“Ya, I’m definitely not answering that question.”

Ben held out his hand, “hand me the phone Rey.”

She debated for a moment about not giving it to him, be he had the advantage seeing as she was currently bundled up in blankets. She squirmed in the blankets until she pulled the phone out and handed it to Ben.

“Password locked, at least you have that much foresight.” He stared at the lock screen a moment longer before punching in 228-228. The phone opened and he saw a text from Harrison Ford.

“My father is texting you?”

“What?” Rey shot forward. “How did you get in!”

“Your password is literally BeeBeeAte’s name, less obvious next time okay? And Harrison Ford is one of his numerous aliases.” He tapped on the only text thread.

_Kid, everything okay at work? Nothing missing?_

Ben read the text message for a moment before understanding and handing the phone back to Rey to reply. _Work’s fine, everything is in it’s place. I got caught up with some stuff here._ He stood up and hovered over her shoulder to read as she replied. _  
_

_Good, was worried. There was a storm brewing, wanted to make sure you didn’t get caught in it.  
_

_Naw, just a little thunder here.  
_

_No lightning?  
_

_Nope. Just disgruntled clouds rumbling._

Ben chuckled as he read over her shoulder. “I’m a disgruntled cloud?”

She shrugged as she put her phone away when Han replied with only a thumbs up emoji. “You’re tall and have a bit of a temper apparently. It works.”

“Well please, don’t let my thunder ruin your evening plans.” He grinned down at her. “Or rather, let them ruin your plans. You’re going to be watched more carefully from now on. And I’m going to need your phone. I can’t have you making more plans with Han to jump ship.”

Rey shook her head and shoved the phone down her shirt. “Nope. This is my only line to Finn, if I can’t see him, at least I can talk to him.”

Ben looked between where the phone budged in her shirt and her face. “You know I am trained for situations like this, extraction of information and equipment from unwilling subjects.”

Rey’s face paled.

“But I’ll let you keep the phone under one condition, you show me all texts and conversations when they happen.”

Rey didn’t have much of a choice if she wanted to keep talking to Finn. “Fine, but they’re going to be boring.”

Ben just nodded and got up from the couch pulling out his phone. A couple of rings and his call connected. “We’re going to need to increase surveillance on Kira, she’s been slipping under the radar more than we suspected.” He walked out of the room, leaving Rey to her thoughts.

\- .... . / -.. .- -.-- / -.. .. . ... / . ...- . .-. -.-- / -. .. --. .... -

Armitage sat comfortably in his leather chair, leaning back, his feet propped up on the bottom drawer of his antique dest. If his father was alive to catch him like this, Armitage wouldn’t be alive much longer. He chuckled to himself at the thought and sipped his red brandy before picking up the report in a folder that looked like every other reports in folders on and around his desk. But this one was different. This one was a file by an independent PI he hired to follow an old smuggler that had inadvertently gotten some of his private business shut down.

There was a photograph of Chu Uwi along side the infamous Han Solo strolling into the Taco Daña about 90 miles south of Chandrila. Armitage could care less about Han, it was Chu Uwi that was target of his ire. Chu, or Chewie as he was more commonly known, had sent word to federal law enforcement before Armitage could get word to his contacts, and gotten a trafficking chain shut down. A very lucrative trafficking ring. There was good money in the particular commodity he was moving, easy to condition and train, long life expectancy if one didn’t play with them too hard.

He sent a message to his PI with instructions to observe, track, and record Chu’s paternities of behaviour.

Satisfied, Armitage tipped the bottom of the glass up and swallowed the last of the rich amber bourbon, the smokey finish as satisfying as good cigar. Things were going his way.

.--- ..- ... - / ... --- / .... . / -.-. .- -. / -... . / -... --- .-. -. / .- --. .- .. -.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, okay, okay.  
> I admit I am the worst at posting on Wednesdays as I seem to sit down and write Wednesday evenings (because I'm a lazy procrastinator who enjoys naps too much). So let's just assume I'll post on Thursdays from now on (as I've always posted on Thursday with the exception of two chapters).
> 
> Are people actually enjoying this? I honestly can't tell, I look at all the other fics and see tens of comments and reactions. Is there something I'm not doing right?


	8. We Love This on Our Own

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey takes an unapproved walk  
> Snoke gets the picture  
> Rey risks it all for nachos  
> Well fuck.  
> Well fuck indeed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Last time on Us or Them:**  
>  Rey gets caught escaping  
> Finn freaked out when she didn't call  
> Ben finds out about the burner phone and make a deal  
> Armitage was up to no good

Rey slunk into the bar, shoulders hunched, looking like a drowned rat, but that was no different from anyone else in the bar. The weather outside could only be described as unpleasant and torrential. Maz looked up from the bar top and spotted Rey within a moment of walking in.

“Look what the cat dragged in.” She nodded more to herself than to Rey. “You know where your table is, go sit down and I’ll bring you something warm and a towel.”

“Now Maz, how come you never offer to bring me a towel with my drink?” One of the apparent regulars asked from down the counter.

“Because you’re old enough to know better, now hush up.” She chastised in a motherly way. At least Rey assumed it was motherly, she didn’t really have a lot of experience to fall back on with that topic. She walked down the dark hall towards the washrooms and pushed open a nondescript door that said Staff Only. As the door opened the music in the bar dimmed and was replaced of the roar of a sabacc round that Chewie appeared to have won.

“You cheated!” Han challenged.

Chewie said nothing, just grinned widely.

“I swear you cheated! I should have gotten the-“ Han stopped dead and looked bashful. Chewie roared with laughter.

“So what I’m seeing is that Han stacked the deck in his favour, and got mad because Chewie here cheated in rightful retaliation. Sounds like Finn is an innocent bystander here.” Rey laughed at the group.

“Peanut!” Finn ignored the table and nearly tripped over a chair in his rush to hug Rey.

“Don’t call him innocent, took us four rounds to realize he was cheating the pants off ya.” Han grinned.

“Finn, you were cheating!” Rey looked shocked. “I’m so proud of you!” She hugged him even harder.

Chewie mumble.

“Ya, not the reaction I was expecting either.” Han agreed. He turned towards Rey and Finn. “Well come on in, sit down, drip dry, and we’ll deal you in.”

“What are we playing for tonight Han? Gotta see if your cheating is going to be worth my time.” She laughed lightly.

It had been months since she’d seen them last. Nearly six months of gaining Solo’s trust, and waiting for the surveillance to get lazy. She bided her time, watching everyone and everything around her, until it was safe enough to make one last trip out to visit her friend.

“Tabs kid, whoever wins doesn’t have to pay.”

Rey sat down with enthusiasm. “Does this include food?”

Finn chuckled and leaned back in his chair. “Oh dear.”

Han and Chewie looked at each other and shrugged. “Why not?”

Rey rubbed her hands together. “Excellent, because I’m hungry!“

\-- .- -.-- -... . / - --- -- --- .-. .-. --- .-- / -.-. --- ..- .-.. -.. / -... . / .- / -... . - - . .-. / -.. .- -.--

Hux’s phone vibrated at him for the fourth time in his meeting with Snoke and it was starting to annoy him.

Snoke turned his face to Hux and regarded him with that creepy dead eyed look he gave everyone. The man was made to be a comic book villain and had a face to match. If anyone ever asked him to describe Snoke, he'd have said the man had a face that was too ugly for even radio. The right side of his head bore scars of a long ago fight, part of the skull slightly collapsed. Snoke always liked using it as an example of why you don’t try to kill him. He was unkillable. But right now he was looking at Hux, and Hux wasn’t sure he wanted to know why.

“Family emergency?” Snoke hissed.

“I don’t have any family left, sir.” Hux answered calmly. Shit, he must have heard the vibrations.

“Girlfriend than?” Hux shook his head. “Boyfriend?” Snoke tried to goad a reaction from him. “Hmm, well it appears that someone dessssperately wants to reach you.” Snoke drew out the s bitterly. “Perhaps you should find out why?”

“I wouldn’t want to interrupt, sir.” Hux wanted to know why he was being texted so much, but he knew better than pull out his phone in front of the Supreme Leader if the Final Order. One of Ren’s Knights did that once, well, that knight is no more is the nicest way to put it.

“Too little too late for that now, Armitage. Come on now, pull out your phone and share it with the class.”

Hux slowly pulled out the phone and unlocked it. It was a series of six photos taken on a cell phone. Two of Han and Chu Uwi. One of Chu Uwi, Han, and The Finn. And two more of a girl that looked a lot like the one they had been looking for. He quickly typed out a question and was immediately sent a location pin. “Sir, it would appear that my contact has located the two witnesses.” He turned the phone to Snoke to show him the images.

“Where?”

“Takodana, in a bar called the Taco Daña. That seems like an unfortunate naming pun.”

“Hux, go connect with your contact. Ren, Phasma, I expect you to assist in securing the location so that Hux may retrieve the two for interrogations.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Of course, sir.”

“And Ren?”

Hux watched as Kylo stiffened and turned back to Snoke. Ren seemed more tense than usual. “Yes sir?”

“Call in your dogs to help, I don’t care about the collateral. They inadvertently kept me from my prey, they no longer matter.”

“Sir, of course, sir.”

Hux left Snoke’s hall, Phasma and Ren most likely not far behind.

He put in a call to his PI, informing him of the impending acquisition and to try and grab Chu Uwi before the knights arrived to secure the location, if possible. And also that he should keep his head down or extricate himself if possible before their arrival. Hux pondered the acquisition of the witnesses and what happens next. Ren and his knights were quite good at the acquisition and causing a mess of the collateral, so they would most likely need a clean up crew called. He’d put in a tentative call now to Malarus so that a ten could be on sight with little worry about police interference. 

.. ..-. / ... .... . / ... - --- --- -.. / -... . ... .. -.. . / .... .. --

Ben sat in the car beside Phasma. Of all the days to be stuck in a car, this was not the one he needed. If he was on his bike, at least he could use Siri to enable everything he needed to get done, but no, he was in close quarters with someone he couldn’t trust with this information. He needed to reach out to Rey and get her out. He needed to reach out to his father to get out. He needed to warn Maz that she was going to be front and centre to a mob hit. He couldn’t do any of these things because Phasma was sitting directly beside him and not even being a little bit subtle about looking at his phone. And he still needed to call in the Knights.

Ben unlocked his phone and dialled Ap’lek’s number. It rang twice before their voice grunted into the headset. “I need you to call in all the Knights to meet at the Taco Daña to secure for an extraction.”

Another grunt, which means Ap’lek was somewhere with other people, hmm, that would make this difficult. We are retaining two individuals for interrogation, two or three others may interfere.” Another grunt. “I want an Order 67, and I want it cleanly executed. Limited mess, no fuss, no feds.”

There was a pause followed by a slow grunt. The call disconnected and Ben sent Ap’lek a copy of the images from Hux, noting who was to be retrieved.

“Order 67? Kylo, you treat your poor knights like they’re some kind of fellowship.” Phasma raised a brow at him.

“Can’t be a fellowship, there’s only seven of them.”

She laughed. “Is that what you are, outside of the Order? You’re a nerd?”

Ben shook his head. “No, but I did pay attention in my English courses and fellowship is considered a group of nine. Just because that number and term was popularized by Lord of the Rings does not, a nerd, make.”

“You can have that one, but why do you treat them like some sort of knighthood?”

He sighed, he knew she had read all the information on them as she had access, which he couldn’t fault her for, but this just seemed like a tired excuse to needle at them. “Most of them are former military Phas, you know that. They are effectively a militia, and structure, rules, and organization helps them be controlled better. Trust me when I say the you fo not want to see them cut loose.” Ben promised. It was true, they were former military of one sort or another, and half of them had dishonourable discharges, all of which were for valid reasons as far as he was concerned. They thrives under the structure of the military, and after so long in violent career paths, they didn’t know how to let go. Most of them needed support and PTSD treatment, not to work in the world’s underbelly, but those resources weren’t available to them. But he’d make sure they would be. After all, they were the Knights of Ren, not the Knights of the Final Order.

“I suppose that makes some sense, but they act like nothing more than rabid dogs. Be sure you keep them on a tight leash.”

Ben nodded but said nothing else. His mind racing on how he could get a hold of his dad or anyone else to get Rey and everyone clear. That was something he didn’t want to unpack right now either, that fact that his priority was Rey when it should be his family. She had rather endeared herself to him, and he wasn’t sure when. Perhaps it was because she refused to fall for any of his tactics to get inside her head, like she had some sort of sixth sense that kept her wary and aware of when she was being manipulated. He had encountered people who were aware they were being manipulated, but none had ever managed to deny him so effectively. Perhaps that was it, the attraction was built on fascination? But even that felt like he was trying to convince himself of something that was definitely not true.

Phasma put her head against the window and closed her eyes, but had not fallen into an even breathing rhythm until they had almost arrived. With a cautious eye to Phasma, Ben pulled out his phone and opened a locked app and sent a quick message.

Knights of Ren & Order in bound, clear out the bar. Limit collateral. Dump the ppl in the back.

He pressed send just as the car pulled off the freeway and Phasma stirred. He swiped over until he was at the photos and pretended to study them.

Phasma leaned over. “Hold on a second, isn’t that wooly mammoth that guy Hux has been hunting?”

Ben froze. “What?” 

“Ya, Hughie or something? Shut down a business venture of Hux’s two years ago. Hux has wanted blood ever since.”

“Business venture?”

“One of those supply and demand of particular tastes of service.” She nodded. But that explains how Hux found them, seems like a bought of unfortunate luck to be associated.”

"Unfortunate indeed." Agreed Ben as he considered it. Han was good at what he did, but when he did get noticed it was usually for something spectacular. He also expected it to have been Rey with her inability to stay put and not risk everyone and everything. He hadn't even considered that Chewie might have been the cause of the notice. This created a new challenge. Maybe he could use Chewie as a distraction to get rid of Hux, then he'd have to find another way to get rid of Phasma. She would definitely be more difficulty since she wasn't motivated by revenge.

The driver pulled into the parking lot, which seemed to be emptying rather quickly, except for the six motorcycles parked by the back door. Ben and Phasma stepped out of the car on their respective sides, and straightened their leathers. He looked at her and nodded. They walked into the bar from the staff door at the back, Phasma first. The sight that greeted them was well organized, if not more than a little threatening. The six Knights were checking every single person before they were forcibly escorted out the door with hushed warnings. Maz stood behind the bar, shaking with anger and yelling at the Knights not to accost any of her customers or she'd do worse to them. Ben allowed himself a smile in the tinted safety of his helmet visor at Maz’s expense, no matter how old she got, she never backed down. He also allowed a moment of pride as he observed the clean execution of Order 67, Order 66 is probably what Snoke would have preferred, but he'd rather not risk his family and assets if he could avoid it.

“Kuruk, Ap’lek, secure the ones we’ve come for.” Ben turned to slowly look over the other knights. “You four ensure that no one we’ve come for leaves the building without a knight, or Hux, Phasma, or myself. Understood?”

“Sir, yes sir.” They chorused back at him.

Ben nodded, looked to Phasma, then Hux, and motioned to follow his other two knights into the back back where the two knights flanked an old wooden door that said Staff Only.

Hux nodded at the two knights to open the door. They stood and didn’t even acknowledge that he had done anything. Ben held in a snicker. Hux tried to get their attention a second time, very aware that now was not a time to make noise. Still, Ap’lek and Kuruk ignored him. Ben finally gave the knights the nod and the door flew open.

.- -. -.. / - --- -- --- .-. .-. --- .-- / -.-. --- ..- .-.. -.. / -... . / -... . - - . .-.

“Are you cheating?” Han challenged Rey. “Because I’m pretty sure you’re cheating.”

Rey shook her head as she collected her winnings from yet another round. Chewie grumbled loudly, and Finn just sat back and laughed. “I warned you guys, not to play against Rey when food’s on the line."

“Speaking of food, where are you putting all of that? Are they not feeding you?”

Rey shrugged as she finished off the last of the crushed chips from her nachos, she’d already managed to pack away six tacos and three of whatever drinks Maz kept bringing her. “I’m a growing girl.”

“You’re too old for that excuse.” Han challenged.

“I didn’t do the growing when I was a kid, so I’m making up for it now.” She countered.

“But back to the cheating, how are you doing it?”

“It’s not like I set out to cheat, it just happened.” Rey explained causally. “You’re using a marked deck to cheat against us, and you expected us not to use it against you?”

Han’s shoulders sagged while Chewie chortled and rumbled something. “Yea, yea, yea. Just like that time with the kid, I remember.” 

Rey and Finn stared at Han expectantly until he rolled his eyes. They high fives across the table.

“When my son was a young man, I took it upon myself to teach him to play sabacc-“ Chewie interrupted him with a chortling sound. “Okay, okay, when Ben was about six I got it in my mind to teach him sabacc. I admit that I did not consider the long term repercussions of teaching him to gamble."

Chewie laughed and rumbled.

“Yes, I understand now that teaching the son of a stubborn politician how to gamble, read tells, and develop the best damned straight face I’ve ever played against was a bad idea. And I don’t know where he learned the long game skills from.” Han threw his hands in the air and shook his head before turning back to Rey and Finn. “As I was saying, Ben must have been six or seven, we’re sitting around the kitchen table, his uncles and I.”

“How many of you?”

“Let’s see, there was Luke, Lando, and of course Chewie here. The kid and I made five. So the five of us are sitting around the kitchen table and Ben, he’s sipping chocolate milk from an old Star Wars cup, and he’s lost five rounds so sabacc at this point, but he’s not getting mad, which is unusual for a kid, right? But we keep playing on.” Han grins widely and leans back in his chair. “The kid decides to up the ante and says that if he wins this pot, he doesn’t have to make his bed for a week, we do. Well we all got a good laugh out of that, but agreed. Turns out the kid realized we were playing with a marked deck and took the first few rounds to get the real for the game and understand the markings.” He and Chewie laughed loudly.

Chewie bellowed something as he laughed, covering the sound of the door opening behind them all.

“Ya, explaining to Leia why his uncles were coming over for the week to make his bed got me into more trouble than I expected. Might have been because of the gambling, who the hell knows.” He shrugged.

“You strike me as the sort of man always in trouble, Han Solo.” A voice modulator rose above their laughter.

The room froze, Rey saw Finn’s eyes widen and his skin go ashy before she managed to turn around in her seat and see the three of the leather clad bikers from that night in Plutt’s. Had she been followed. The slimmest of the three stepped forward, oozing a superiority complex.

“Well look what we have here, four rats, trapped in a room. I wonder how long before they turn on each other to save themselves.” The voice, modulator or not, sneered at them. Rey knew this was the one that lost his helmet at the garage, Hux she thought, the haughty stance and tone of voice gave him away.

“You must be looking in a mirror because the only rat I see here is you.” Han shot back as if the three Final Order members were nothing but unruly children. Rey wasn’t sure this was the right play, but it wasn’t her choice any more.

“Funny.” Hux sneered again. “I will commend the two of you on your ability to evade the Order for so long, you should be proud, we brought out all our Knights to collect you this evening. It’s been quite a while since we’ve had problems locating witnesses.”

“How did you find us?” Finn demanded.

Hux threw a hand towards Chewie. “Chu Uwi was spotted frequenting this bar and one of my men happened to recognize you as well. Perhaps you shouldn’t spend time with wanted men when you’re trying to avoid being caught."

“Why the hell would you want Chewie?” Han demanded.

“He owes me quite a bit of money for exposing an enterprise of mine, and I intend to collect. You two were a bonus. As for Han Solo, well, there are plenty of organizations that feel lighted by you and your wife, I’m sure they’ll pay very well to collect on some small amount of satisfaction.” Hux lifted his hand and waved at the group. Nothing happened.

Hux looked behind himself towards the door where Rey now noticed two more people dressed in leathers, but infinitely more terrifying looking than the three that had walked in. “Ren, your beasts.” Hux turned and left the room.

The tallest of the two remaining biker’s head and shoulders bobbed slightly as if he had huffed a quiet laugh, or annoyed exhale of air. Who knew which with tinted helmets and all the skin covered, but Ren raised his left hand and with three quick motions gave wordless commands and the room was suddenly full of movement.

Rey dropped to the ground and rolled under the table, putting it between the group of four and the four people in leathers. Han pulled out a pistol while Chewie pulled out a taser from somewhere. Rey grabbed a broom handle and Finn moved further back into the room, he never was one for a fight.

“I want them all alive,” Ren commanded. “They will all be useful for information in one manner or another.”

Rey noticed that Phasma made a line straight for Finn, Rey smacking her helmet to keep her from getting too close to him. Phasma squared her shoulders and was about to swing for Rey when suddenly she was lifted bodily off the ground. One massive arm was wrapped around her waist, the other hand around her throat. It wasn’t squeezing hard, but it was tight enough to be a threat. Rey flailed her feet, hoping to catch a shin, thigh, or even a groin if she was lucky.

“Settle down or this will be far worse for you.” Ren’s modulated voice said in her ear.

“Worse than being caught by an organization that wants to kill me?” Rey fought back, snapping her head backwards and cracking her skull on his helmet. The throbbing pain in the back of her skull and the sudden nausea and blurry vision all agreed that was a poor idea.

Ren carried her from the back room, her vision doubling as yet another biker came towards her. The little black spots suddenly became pitch darkness and it took an embarrassingly long time for Rey to understand a black cloth bag had been placed over her head, she hadn’t gone blind. In the meantime her hands and feet had been zip tied together and she was being carried somewhere. Finally succumbing to the dizziness, she passed out as she was laid gently onto a flat surface.

.. ..-. / ... .... . / -.-. --- ..- .-.. -.. / .--- ..- ... - / - .-. ..- ... - / .... .. --

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey look, I managed to post on schedule for a change.


	9. I Don't Want You Anywhere Near Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Uh, the shit kinda hits the fan guys.  
> That's all the summary y'all getting from me.  
> Major Character Deaths in this chapter. You've been warned. But if you need to skip it, at the point that Rey gets onto the catwalk walk to the end of the section.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Last time on Us or Them:**  
>  Rey agrees to play nice with Ben and listen to the rules.  
> At least until she can manage to slip out to see Finn again  
> Hux's PI spots Chu Uwi and therefor he finds Han, Finn, and Rey.  
> Snoke sends the Big Three and the knights to clean up this last mess.  
> Showdown at Little Taco.  
> And Rey gets grabbed.

She swam back up to consciousness to the sounds of thick rubber soles thumping through an echoing room. She groaned. Her head hurt, stomach churned, and the back of her skull felt like it should be shattered. Maybe head butting the helmet wasn’t her smartest idea ever. The sound of muffled speaking drifted through the room, foot steps approached as she tried to take her baring through the covering. The bag was ripped off Rey’s head, the sudden bright light multiplied her nausea and she leaned forward and threw up.

“Ew!” Groaned a voice as it jumped back.

Chuckled lifted from her right. “What, you can hold your intestines together in the middle of the sandbox, but you can’t stand a bit of vomit? You disappoint me Vicrul.”

“Won’t be the last time Cardo, I assure you.” The two laughed.

Rey spit the rest of the taste out of her mouth and onto the floor with her eyes closed. Somewhere to her right she could here Finn asking if she was okay. She tried to nod and immediately realized this was a poor decision. “I’ve been worse.”

“That was a bad joke,” groaned Finn. “Really bad taste.”

“Naw,” she opened her eyes and turned slowly to look at him. “Pretty sure the only thing in bad taste is my mouth.”

Han groaned at both of them. “I’m supposed to be the one with the bad jokes here and the smart ass comments, not you two whipper snappers.”

“Who even says whipper snappers these days?” A familiar modulated voice broke up the banter. “Tell me Han, do you also shake your cane at the children playing on the lawns?”

“As a matter of fact, Chewie gave me a special cane just for that for my birthday. Isn’t that right Chewie?” Han looked around when not reply came. His face turned to stone and he looked sharply at the biker. “Where’s Chewie!”

“He is catching up with an old acquaintance.” The modulated voice sounded as if it was chuckling.

“You better not fucking touch a hair on his head!” Han threatened, pulling against his bindings on the chair.”

“Aw, but he’s got so many to choose between.” Laughed one of the other knights.

“I promise I will not harm a hair in his head, or anywhere else on him.” And after a moment he added, “nor will any of my knights.”

Rey got nervous. “Do you have other knights that aren’t in this room?”

“No.”

“And Chewie isn’t in this room either. So he’s not with any of your knights, so it’s an empty promise.” She pieced together. The biker stiffened.

“You are quicker than I anticipated.”

“I can't say you're any less of a monster as I expected you to be.” She shot back.

"Hmm, that sounds like a challenge, what do you think?" Ren's knights started laughing. He nodded at one and suddenly Rey's world went black and the bag was tightened around her throat. It wasn't tight enough to choak her, but there was no way for her to dislodge it, no matter how hard she threw her head.

"Ow! Fuck!" A grunt came from behind her, her skull throbbing again for hitting it on something hard.

"Don't stand so close to the flailing girl than." Laughed a female voice she assumed was Phasma, unless one of the other knights was a woman. "She's already cracked Ren's helmet down the visor, doesn't need to add yours to the list too."

"Her wee little head did that?" The voice directly behind her sounded surprised as it tightened zip ties around her elbows to the chair.

"Come closer and I can show you." Rey spat at him.

"Ha ha ha, I'm not as stupid as Turdgen, I don't fall for pretty girls." The voice moved along her side, more ties tightening her wrist and then her thigh and ankle to the chair. 

"Aw, you think I'm pretty?"

He moved again to her other side and continued securing her to the chair. "I also think you're pretty dumb if you think I'm going to fall for that shit. But maybe Ren will be nice enough to let us take a turn with you before the end and I can show you how pretty." There was a chorus of laughter and Finn was shouting something. Han was trying to get him to calm down.

The sound of wooden chairs scraping against concrete and then she was moving away from the others. Sounded like they were all being distanced from each other. From any comfort or support they could have taken or given.

"When I get out of this chair, I'm going to kick your ass Ren." Rey's voice was low as she fought the restraints which were too snug to be comfortable, but loose enough to not cut off circulation. "You're nothing more than a wannabe boogieman hiding in shadows!"

His laughter echoed through the warehouse. “What ever did you expect from a monster?” The modulator did nothing to hide the hiss in his voice. "Turdgen, keep her quiet, I don't want her interrupting my questions."

"Of course." Turgen agreed from behind her before lowering his face to her ear. He started to say something, but Rey snapped her head around and snapped her teeth at him. Her surprise evident when her teeth closed in on his cheek. He pulled himself backwards and the back of his hand smacked against her temple before she had time to register what had happened. Darkness overtook her for the second time that evening. She came too, not sure how long later, to the sound of Ren barking orders and growling questions. It was a concophany of noice that Rey would rather have skipped. The sound of a fist in a gut followed by the sudden exhale of air. Finn calling out, and someone groaning, was that Han? Was he okay?

"Take her away Phas, I need some time alone with the traitor and the smuggler." Ren ordered. 

Rey struggled against her bonds while trying to throw her weight against the chair so she wouldn't have to leave. "You can leave me right here, thank you very much. Anything you need from them, you probably need from me." She growled. "It's easier when we're closer."

The bag loosened and then was pulled abruptly from her head. Ren tilted his helmet slightly as he stood far closer that Rey was comfortable with. She could feel his unseen gaze on her. "No, I don't think so. They owe me a pound of flesh, or seven, you however," he paused as he stepped right up towards her, pulling a knife smoothly from behind his back. "For you I have much different plans for." He cut through the ropes on her harms and legs before grabbing her by the shoulder and tossing her towards Phasma. He did it so quickly she didn't have time to react or hold onto the chair. 

"Where would you like me to detain her in the meantime?"

Ren thought for a moment. "The offices upstairs should suffice. Sound shouldn't travel that far."

Rey froze, cold feeling of dread rushing through her at his words. Her fight or flight instinct kicked in and she fought against Phasma as she tried to drag her across the warehouse. She kicked and screamed, twisting violently in the large bikers arms as the others standing around jeered and laughed, making jokes and placing bets.

Rey was dragged up the stairs and shoved none too kindly into an old office made more of dust than leftover cheep furniture. From the little bit she'd seen of the warehouse, she figured it was one of the rundown and abandoned ones on the east side of the city. Then she remembered she'd been grabbed with the others in Takodana and not in Chandrila so maybe she didn't really know where she was and that information stressed her even more. Phasma pulled the door closed and turned to her.

"What is he going to do to them?" Rey demanded from the far side of the room. She had positioned herself so that the old desk was between them.

Phasma ignored her and looked around, found a chair and moved it towards the door and dusted it off before sitting down. "Most people are more concerned about what Ren is going to do to them, over others."

"I'm not most people."

"I am aware."

Rey stood in wary silence staring down the giant woman gracefully perched on the chair by the door. Eventually both of them got bored staring each other down and Rey began looking around the room. The office was mostly empty, but was attached to a second room that over looked the warehouse below. She tried to go into the other room, but Phasma moved faster than her size belied. 

"I don't think so," she stopped Rey's exploration. "I don't think you want to see what's happening down there, and I know you don't want Ren to catch you where you're not supposed to be."

Rey shrugged and moved back towards the desk, but not before she looked around the bit of room she could see. She sat casually on the corner of the dusty desk, while Phasma went back to her chair. Running through her mind the bit that she saw which was broken glass across the room overlooking the warehouse floor, dark room to the right, she couldn't see past the door to the left, but in front of the broken glass seemed to be a catwalk. It would be a jump, but Rey might be able to make it if she took a running leap. That is, if Phasma was distracted and didn't catch her first.

"Can I go pee?"

"No."

"What am I supposed to do?"

"You're not four years old," Phasma barely spared Rey a glance. "You can hold it."

Rey rolled her eyes, well that wasn't going to work. She continued to sit on the desk, for who knows how long until she got bored and started to draw designs in the thick layer of dust. She sneezed, Phasma looked up and then looked back down at her phone, ignoring Rey again. Rey sneezed again, this time disturbing a cloud of dust which led to a huge sneezing fit. She slid off the desk in an effort to get away from the dust, but instead she just disturbed more.

"Can I have some," she sneezed. "Water." She sneezed again. "Please?"

Phasma looked at the growing cloud of dust and signed. "Fine. But I'm locking you in here. Don't do something stupid."

Rey nodded as she sneezed four times in a tight pattern. Phasma stood up and left the office, the sound of keys in the lock. Rest tried to hold her breath to stop the sneezing as she darted into the other room. To the left was a small door that led to a balcony and connected to the catwalk. She tried the door but it was locked, so she carefully climbed through the broken window onto the balcony.

She took a step forward onto the catwalk and let out a shuddering breath as it rocked gently on the chains that suspended it. She moved forward, her nose twitching with the need to sneeze, her head throbbing. She was doing well, and then everything happened at once.

Behind her she heard Phasma return and not see her right away. Below her, one of the knights looked up directly at her. And she sneezed. Loudly. The sound echoed through the empty warehouse floor and drew the attention of everyone below. Shouts rose top her and she pushed herself to run, the catwalk waving and shifting underneath her feet.

Rey looked over her shoulder just in time to see Phasma burst through the locked door and quickly push onto the catwalk, making it wave even more. The rolling motion of the walk messed with her stomach and head and she wanted to vomit, instead she put her feet down solidly and tried to move forward. She had barely made it six steps when Phasma grabbed her from behind and locked Rey's arms behind her.

Rey could see from where she's been caught on the catwalk as Han nods at Ren, his eyes peaceful but twinkled with mischief. “Do what you need to do, I’m going to do what I need to. I trust you’re going to make the right decision.”

Ben nodded back, lowered the gun and shot Han in the stomach, he and Finn went down, both clutching their stomachs. He stepped forward and fired two more shots in quick succession.

Rey screamed and fought against where Phasma was restraining her. She couldn’t see much at this distance, but she did hear their cries and blood. Oh god, so much blood. Rey felt sick. She turned her head to face Phasma, and vomited over the amazon’s shirt and pants. She released Rey out of disgust, realizing too late what she did. Rey took off running down the catwalk, her nausea not on her mind, and away from the Final Order's knight. 

Slamming through whatever door she could find, and tearing down stairs, Rey fled the warehouse. Her civilized brain no longer had the reigns, she was operating off pure instinct and survival now. When she finally made it outside into the darkness of late night. She could hear Phasma yelling after her, she looked around and saw that she was in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by distant factories, train tracks, and what looked like a very sketchy river from what little she could see of it. She ran towards the river and realized that and the tracks were going to be the first places they’d probably look for her. Even though her advantage was the darkness and her size, she knew she was still increasing her risk of being caught if she took one of these roots. With panic edging in on her mind, Rey looked around and spotted the perfect hiding spot. She took off and dropped her jacket between the tracks and a gap in the fence to the river and then ran back towards the warehouse she just fled, the steel door slamming open just as she wiggled into her spot. She pulled her shirt up to hide her face and hair, screwed her eyes shut, held her breath, and prayed.

.. -. ... - . .- -.. / .... . / -.-. .- .-.. .-.. ... / --- ..- -

Ren was panicking, Phasma had lost Rey after he shot the damned smuggler and the traitor, and she was the last of the loose ends that needed to be cleaned up. Ben was also panicking, Rey running was not part of his meticulous plans. He wanted to protect her, for more reasons than he was willing to think about right now, and if Phasma got to her first, well, she actually would be cleaned up. He did not want that to happen. He was spiralling, not quite sure how to cope with the risk of losing Rey. And the icing on the metaphorical shit cake was that they were no where near Takodana. The plan was pick up and eliminate, and you never make a mess in your own backyard, too easy to get caught. But so much easier to lose Rey.

His eyes shot around, trying to pick up her invisible trail in the dark. He flicked on the flashlight on his phone and that’s when he spotted it, the jacket she’d been wearing. He jogged over and picked it up. It was right between a gap in the fence that led down to the river, and the unused train tracks. He tried to figure which way she went so he could send Phasma the other way. The gap in the fence was overgrown, muddy, and he saw no signs that she had passed through. Good. Let Phasma get her shoes dirty.

“I want you to track the river, check the storm drains and everything. She and the traitor have a history of hiding in them.” He directed her coldly.

“No wonder, no one wants to look in those.” She clenched her jaw. “And these are new boots.”

Ren allowed a cold smile to grace his face. “I would assume it would be just as easy to replace the whole outfit as it would be to replace that shirt.” He looked pointedly at the vomit marks on her clothes. "And I would absolutely hate to tell the Supreme Leader who lost the last witness."

“Of course.” She snapped an insincere salute before turning and squeezed her way through the gap in the fence, her hair catching quickly before getting free again, turned on her phone's flashlight before cautiously picking her way down the slope.

Ren turned and headed down the railroad.

.-. ..- -. / .-.. .. - - .-.. . / .-. .- -... -... .. - / .-. ..- -.

She was exhausted. She had no idea how many miles she had walked before she finally felt safe enough to try and hitch a ride, but it was definitely well past dawn. Turns out no one wants to give a ride to someone who smells like a homeless garbage dump. She walked until she found that she was outside of Chandrila, which was about 80 miles north of Takodana. With no wallet, no phone, no money, and a gang out for her head, Rey had no choice but to walk.

She had curled up under some bushes just inside the tree line of a small national park for a short nap when a couple of hikers came across her. They gave her one of their water bottles, insisting she keep it, and some of their protein bars. Rey was so moved the strangers generosity, she cried. They hugged her and one of them, she wasn't sure, had snuck a twenty credit note into her back pocket. She didn't notice until she had walked another two hours further.

There's a point when traveling that distance is no longer measured in miles, kilometres, or parsecs, but in duration. The sun had long since sunk below the horizon when she stumbled upon a small gas station. A young lady pumping gas with two buns on the sides of her head. Rey ignored the looks she got when she stumbled into the station and went straight for the protein shakes and energy drinks. She found a couple of boiled eggs on clearance and grabbed those too. Her total coming to under six credits, leaving her with something to squirrel away depending on how much longer it was going to take her to get back to the safe house. She was leaving through the door when the young lady was walking in, they dodged each other and Rey walked towards the payphone to try and call Ben. She shoved one of the eggs in her mouth as she picked up the receiver and tried to remember the number to dial, but all she could remember was the number for Finn's burner. Rey slammed the receiver back down and tried to sniff back the tears that threatened. Now was not the time to cry. A knock on the booth caused her to jump and whirl around, it was the young lady with the buns.

"Hey, do you want a ride somewhere?" She asked quietly.

"Which direction are you going?" Rey asked in return.

"I'm heading to my aunt's place in Chandrila." She replied. "But I can take a detour to make sure you get some place safe. You do have somewhere safe to go, don't you?"

Rey nodded. "In Takodana."

"Come on." She beconed Rey to follow her.

"I only have fourteen credits to offer you."

She waved the offer off. "If I was running from something, I hope someone would make the same consideration for me." She clicked the locks off in the car. "I'm Billie."

"Re- Kira. I'm Kira."

"Well Kira, I don't bite, jump in."

Rey didn't move.

Billie stopped getting into her seat and stood up again and looked over the roof at her in concern. "What's wrong." 

"I smell like garbage."

"I've got deodorant in here somewhere if you want some."

Rey laughed nervously. "No, I mean I actually smell like garbage. I had to hide in a dumpster to get away."

Billie thought for a moment and went to her trunk. She pulled out a pair of jeans, a graphic tee, and a jumper. She handed them to Rey without a question and a bag. "Here, go change, I'll wait for you."

"I can't take your clothes." Rey argued quietly.

"You're not, I'm giving them to you. It's okay, I'm not going to leave without you. I promised to help and I will, we girls gotta stick together right?"

Rey nodded and hurried to the washroom and stripped down, keeping only her underthings on and giving herself the world's fastest sponge bath before redressing in the new clothes and rushing out to find that Billie was still there, standing beside her door, waiting for her. She let out a breath she didn't know she holding and jogged to the car. Billie smiled and climbed in, Rey followed in suit.

Billie started the car, turned down the radio, and made a hard left onto the freeway. "So, where where would you like me to drop you?"

"Anywhere closer to Takodana is good for me." Rey aquessed

"Let me try this again," Billie laughed. "If I could drop you off anywhere, where would it be?"

Rey sat in silence for a moment. "The Taco Dãna."

"That's ol' Maz's place, right? She still alive?"

Rey smiled and nodded.

"Damn, that woman is older than time itself! She was old when my uncle was a kid." They two of them laughed together before falling into a comfortable silence.

Somewhere along the way Rey had somehow fallen asleep. She hadn't expected to feel safe around Billie, but she also figured she crashed from pure exhaustion. She woke when Billie was pulling off the freeway and onto a dark street road. At first Rey didn't recognize where she was and pancicked.

"It's okay, it's okay Kira." Billie tried to coo at her. "We're almost at Maz's"

Rey settled and nodded, but didn't fully relax until she saw the tacky neon sign of Maz's. Billie pulled into the parking lot and put the car into park. Rey opened the door, pausing before getting out. "Thank's Billie, I don't think I could ever thank you enough."

"You gonna be safe now?" Rey nodded. "I don't know what you're going through, but if you ever need someone to talk to, call me." She gave Rey a plain business card.  
_Billie Lourde_  
Trauma Councelor  
416-555-0514

"I can't make any promises, I'm in a difficult position, but if I can," she let her voice trail off. "Thank you Billie, get to your aunt's safe." She stood out of the car and closed the door and nodded at Billie who smiled back.

Rey walked back to the safe house, her every muscle dying, her feet worse, and tried to sneak back into the safe house without disturbing Ben or anyone else. She unlocking the door as quietly as she could. She just wanted to have a shower and sleep until noon, two weeks from now. Ben was right, she shouldn’t have been sneaking off property and away from the guys that were supposed to be monitoring her. But she just wanted to see Finn, that wasn’t such a bad thing, was it? Apparently it was, and now he’s dead and it’s all her fault!

She closed the door with nary a sound other than her quiet sniffle. Her brain, it turned out, suddenly just wanted to focus on how she got her only friend killed, with really wasn’t helpful right now. With her hand still on the door, she took a stuttering breath, turned around and screamed. Standing in the middle of the hall, just off the living room, staring at her was Kylo Ren! She screeched and turned and fumbled with the door, trying to pull it open without unlocking it in her panic.

He was down the hall in a heartbeat, wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close, murmuring in her hair with Ben’s voice. He pulled back and flicked on the hall light, blinding her. He moved her head back and forth, checking her over. Satisfied, he pulled her back into his chest and held her firmly. “I thought I’d lost you.” No, this was Ben, she was safe from Ren for now.

.... . .-.. .-.. / .. ... / .. -. / - .... . / .- .. .-.

He wondered if she had gone through the river to escape him, she was wet and smelled of garbage, not that he’d say that to her. Where did the clothes come from, he wasn't going to knock the black jumper with the iconic helmet logo from the Space Battle franchise, though he was a little surprised at the vintage Readign Rainbow t-shirt. And how did she make it back to the safe house? The warehouse was just over eighty miles away, did she hitchhike, how did she pay her way? The implications of that thought alone made him angry in ways he wasn't ready to confront.

He could always find out after what happened and where she went, right now he was just happy she was home and safe. He pulled her tightly into his chest, cupping the back of her head and relaxing slightly as Rey buried her face into his chest. They stood there for a long time in silence. When her quiet sniffles died down, he finally spoke again.

“Come on Rey, lets get you showered and tucked into bed.” He gently guided her towards the stairs. “I’ll make you some food while you have one of those showers that use up all the hot water in the house. Go on.”

Rey made no motion to move on her own, and Ben was suddenly more concerned now than before. He put the back of his hand to her cheek and the skin was cold to the touch. More concerned, he raised her face to his with a gentle hand on her chin, and saw her gaze was distant and her lips were purplish. He cursed at himself, she was in shock.

Ben took her upstairs into her shower. “Rey, can you shower on your own?” She slowly nodded. “Okay, good. Im going to warm some food and tea, I’ll be back up to check on you in ten minutes.”

Just under fifteen minutes later, Ben returned with a bowl of soup, toasted bun, and a cup of tea and set it gently on the bathroom counter. Before he could stop himself, he glanced at the shower were Rey stood not moving underneath the water flow. It took him a moment to realize that she was still fully dressed. He pulled off his watch and took his cell phone out of his pocket and put it on the sink before opening the door to the stall.

“Rey, you need to take off your clothes before you shower.” He teased gently. “

She lifted her gaze to his face and slowly processed his words before breaking down in tears. “I can’t do anything right!” She hiccuped through the tears.

“Oh Rey, it’s okay!” He stepped into the shower and pulled her into him again, stroking over her hair as she cried.

“He’s dead.” Rey hiccuped. “I killed him!”

“You didn’t kill anyone Rey, it’s okay.” He tried to sooth her.

She forced herself away from him, half under the water, completely lost to her emotions. She was beautiful. She was always beautiful, but right now she was in her rawest form and it was stunning if it wasn’t for her heartbreak. 

“You don’t understand, Finn is dead! Finn and Han! Oh god!” Realization crosses her face. “Oh god, I’m so sorry Ben, Ren killed you dad tonight, he killed your dad and Finn.”

Ben stood in shock, not because of the news, he knew all of this, but because of how fast she switched between her pain and worrying about his. “Rey, it’s okay, it’ll all be okay. What matters right now is that you’re safe.”

“But your dad.”

“I know, the dead aren’t going anywhere, they’ll still be there tomorrow to mourn. You need to shower, properly, and then eat something so you’ll be here tomorrow too.” He held her out from him. “Can you do that for me?”

Rey nodded slowly.

Ben stepped back. “Then I’m going to change into dry clothes, I’ll check in on you in another fifteen minutes, okay?”

She nodded again and he stepped out of the shower, dripping on the bath mat and debated a moment about stripping down to his underthings here but decided against it. He grabbed a towel and dripped his way into his room, taking her food with him. He changed into dry sweats, put the tray of food in Rey's room on her bedside table while she showered, and towel dried his hair as he waited fort the sound of Rey moving from the bathroom to her bedroom. 

When she finally made it to her room, Ben knocked. When she didn't answer, he gently asked if she was decent, could he enter? A mumbled reply that sounded like assent and Ben gently pushed the door open. She was sitting on the edge of her bed, wrapped up in the most hideous sweater he had ever seen. It was at least four sizes too large, full of holes around the cuffs and the collar looked like it had seen better days in the sixties.

"Come on, let's get you something to eat Rey." He said as gently as possible.

"I'm not hungry." She mumbled.

That stopped him, not once had Rey every said no to food. He walked over and gently guided her into the bed and under the blanket.

"Can you stay with me?" Her voice was quiet. 

"Of course Rey, anything for you."

She pulled the blanket back for him and Ben sat with his back against the headboard and gathered Rey into his lap, pulling the blanket this way and that as he tucked it in around her. "Will you try to have a few bites of soup for me?"

She furled her brows at him and wiggled, completely trapped in the cocoon of blanket. "How do you expect me to eat when-"

Ben had the bowl of soup sitting on her blanketed self and the spoon in front of her face waiting.

"Oh." She opened her mouth and let him feed her. As she ate and the crash began, Ben gently asked how she escaped, how did she make it home, is she okay, what happened. And Rey slowly explained how she set a false trail and hid in a garbage dumpster under the trash so she wouldn't be seen. And then how she walked most of the way, and the hikers that fed her, and Billie that gave her a ride. Slowly she trailed off into mumbles and Ben was left with an empty bowl of soup, a sleeping Rey, and his emotional crash that no one was around to see. Thank the fates.

.- -. -.. / .. - ... / --. . - - .. -. --. / .... .- .-. -.. / - --- / -... .-. . .- - .... .


	10. Get Your Fucking World Out of My Head

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ugh, I'm too tired for this, but here we go:  
> Ben tried to comfort Rey  
> Kylo sets a trap  
> Rey doesn't listen  
> Snoke want's to play with Kylo's new pet

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Last time on Us or Them:**  
>  Rey, Han, and Finn get captured by the Final Order.  
> Rey sees Ren kill Han and Finn.  
> Rey escapes and finds her way back to the safe house.  
> Ben panics at Phasma losing Rey.  
> Rey gets back but is in shock and sort of tells Ben what happened.

“Cause there’s a right  
And there’s a wrong way  
Heeeeeeeyyyyy, lets do it our way  
Let’s do it our way”

"Oh! Oh Ben, turn up the stereo, I like this song!" Rey called from across the ground floor.

Ben looked up in surprise, this was the most enthusiasm he had heard from Rey in what, the last five weeks. Or has it been six weeks now? He cranked the volume and restarted the track, anything to keep her smiling, even if for a moment. He looked down at his computer and the reports he was filing. What he'd give to be able to tell her the truth, to lighten the load he carried so that he could lift hers as well. He shook his head. Ben knew that if she knew the truth right now, it would ruin everything. His carefully laid plans, his years of meticulous investigating and observing, his questionable actions. All of it would be for nothing. Instead, his and Rey's suffering was the lowest cost for what he was almost ready to finish. And he was almost ready to take down the Final Order completely, he just needed an in-person meeting with Paps, and he was just laying down the final pieces until he could make that happen.

He heard Rey's quiet steps coming down the hall and he quickly changed his screen to a spreadsheet, he could hear her humming along with the words. She gently knocked on the door frame before coming in, the tails of the blanket she was wrapped in sweeping the ground behind her.

"Don't you think it's time to change?" Ben teased her gently.

"What?"

"You've been wearing that blanket for a month now."

She raised her brow at him. "I was wearing the black fuzzy throw blanket yesterday."

He smiled and bowed his head in defeat. "I stand corrected, forgive me."

She stood facing him for a long moment, swaying with the song. "I like this band, it reminds me of Han." She broke the silence.

"They're one of his favourites. He used to fly out to their shows, him and Chewie, whenever they could. Always made some excuse to justify why they had to be there." He changed his voice to sound a little like his dad. "'They're changing the industry.' 'Don't you think a small band from Canada selling out major venues says something?' 'They only have two albums, they're like the Canadian version of the Rolling Stones.'"

"So, like Rush?" Rey pointed out.

"I think so, but far hipper. More like the Tragically Hip, which is unfortunately and unironically a tragic story themselves. But very catchy, another one of Dad's, I mean Han's favourites. I think he always had a thing for the underdog." Ben took a deep breath and looked down at the carpet at his feet. "Did you know he was an orphan too? Never really talked about his childhood much, but when he did, he always stressed that you never know how far you'll go or how strong you are until everything is on the line and you have something to lose. I think about that a lot, especially these days."

Rey hummed a response. "Finn found me when I was practically dead, I had picked a fight I shouldn't have and was paying for it. He found me, took me home, and got me sorted. I don't remember much of it, but when I woke completely he was there beside me. That was the first time in my life anyone had stayed and waited for me. He didn't like to fight, he'd rather run and hide and wait for danger to pass." Rey sat down in the leather chair against the wall by the bookcase. "Some people call that cowardly, but I don't think, I mean I never really appreciated that fact back than, but he was a lot smarter for it. If I had listened to him, we'd be off somewhere else together. Instead I wanted to stay and fight for everyone else. And I dragged him into it." Her eyes grew wet.

Ben moved across the room and pulled her into a hug before he realized he had even stood up. He hated seeing her cry, he hated that he could make it all better, he hated that he was withholding something valuable from her. But he still couldn't say, no matter how much it tore him up inside. "It was a matter of time. Finn said it himself that Ren and the Order were still watching him and they were probably just waiting for a moment to strike. It's not your fault Rey."

"I shouldn't have snuck out!" She buried her face in his shirt. "I thought it had been long enough that it was safe."

"No, you shouldn't have, but there's no changing what happened now." He took her by the shoulders and pushed her away from his chest while ducking his head to catch her eye. "Rey, Finn wouldn't want you to stay wallowing in his death. He'd want you to live and fight."

"He hated fighting."

"He did, but you Rey, you need to stand up and fight and I think he understood that." She blinked rapidly before burying her face in his chest, he felt her tears break through and soak through his chest, and his heart cracked a little for her. He rubbed her back and murmured into her hair. "He knows you're a fighter. And I'm pretty sure that wherever he is, he's demanding hourly updates on you and your safety. Can you imagine that? Quiet Finn making some not so quiet demands?"

She hiccuped a laugh. "Sounds like something he'd do."

.- / -.-. .- .-. . ..-. ..- .-.. .-.. -.-- / .-.. .- .. -.. / - .-. .- .—.

“What the hell do you mean you want me to release Chu Wui to you?” Hux exclaimed. He and Ren stood abreast, in front of Snoke. Hux couldn’t stop himself from turning to face the annoying head of knights in shock.

“As I explained earlier, Armitage,” Hux bristled at the use of his first name. Ren knew he hated it, which was probably why he used it. "I need Chu to flush out the scavenger from whatever hole she's dug herself into. You found her before with him, goes to say I can find her again."

"But what about what I need from him?" Hux demanded. "I have been hunting him for years now, you just want me to throw away all my work?"

Ren turned his head slowly toward him and Hux knew in that moment he had accidentally dug himself his own hole, but he wasn't sure how, but Ren would be sure to tell him.

"Were you, perhaps, using resources to find Chu Wui that could have been used to recover the traitor and his little scavenger instead?" He shook his head slowly. "How unlike you to not interprete every little word of Snoke's. Have you lost your ambition to revenge?"

Hux could feel his face go red. So that was the hole. 

“You’ve had the giant for two months now,” Snoke interjected. “And as much as I enjoy you two bickering like children, I must agree with Ren this time. Hux, you will release Chu Wui into Ren and his knights custody so that they may track down the remaining witness so we can focus on more important Final Order matters again. I dislike loose ends.”

Hux nodded, he hated helping Ren, hated when he might be right, but he hated it even more on those rare times when Snoke sided with the cur. He pursed his lips behind his own helmet and turned to Ren. “I will have him prepared to be collected tomorrow evening. I hope you know what you’re doing.”

Ren didn’t reply, nor did Hux give him a chance to before turning and walking away the two men. He began to build a list of things that needed to be completed before Ren claimed the giant, unhelpful lug. It may have been two months, but Wui had managed to take most of his satisfaction in revenge away from him. Almost as if he had been trained for torture in the past. Now that was an interesting thought, why would a run of the mill smuggler be able to withstand most types of torture?

Hux followed that thought path as he climbed into his car and motioned for his drive to begin their return trip.

\- --- / -.-. .- - -.-. .... / - .... . / ..-. .. -. .- .-.. / .-. .- -

"Ben!" Rey yelled as she ran through the house. "Ben, Ben where are you? This is an emergency!"

Ben looked at his alarm clock, it was just after four in the morning. If this was about Chewie, he was going to kill his uncle when all was said and done. "I'm in my bed Rey, like all people should be before the ass crack of dawn on a work morning." He grumbled.

"Ben," Rey shoved open his door, she looked a mess. She shoved her burner phone in Ben's face. "Chewie texted!"

Ben bolted up in the bed, threw his legs over the edge, and grabbed the phone from her hand. Yup, he was definitely going to kill his uncle when this was all over, and he was pretty sure that Chewie had waited until stupid o'clock to text too. He yawned and read the message.

"Rey, you know this is probably a trap, right? That the Order is probably using him to draw you out into the open so they can finish this, right?"

"I already let down Finn and Han, I can't let down Chewie too. He's got a family to go home to somewhere, I don't. So I might as well do what I can to help him and his family."

"Rey, come here." He put out his hand to pull Rey to sit down on the bed beside him. "First of all, Finn would probably come back from the dead if he knew I let you walk into a trap like this. Two, it's a damned trap! And three, Sacrificing yourself for one person is noble and all, and I respect and admire your loyalty, but you have information that could help bring down the entire organization and save so many other people. Your testimonial could bring down everyone, and isn't that worth one person?"

Rey stared at him, he knew that she would disagree with his reasoning. He knew everything in her would fight back tooth and nail. He just knew it deep inside his gut. "How about this, go back to sleep, in the morning we will call in Chief Organa and your favourite dectactives, present the new evidence, and decide on what steps we can take to save Chewie. Okay?"

It took a minute, but Rey nodded slowly. "Fine. In the morning. Can I have my phone back?"

"Nope," he replied cheekily, knowing that if she got the phone, she'd try to arrange her own meeting without him. "I've gotta run a trace and see if you can find where he is. Maybe we can grab him without anyone getting hurt. But we wont know if we don't know where he is."

She huffed out a breath. "Fine."

"Go to bed Rey, sitting here won't get your phone back faster." Ben gave her a pointed look. She rolled her eyes but pushed off the bed and trudged out of the room. Her new found enthusiasm disappeared as the door closed behind her. Ben let out the breath he was holding. Manipulating Rey was more of a challenge than he initially anticipated. The creeping desire to keep her from harm was also complicating his mission.

He rubbed his hand over his face and sighed. He was doing all of this for the greater good, the few sacrifices along the way were paving the way for a better and safer country and world. He had to keep reminding himself that he was doing this for a reason and any inconvient feelings that Rey might be inciting were just that, inconvient. Greater Good. He could do this.

He stood up and went to the safe in his room and unlocked it to retrieve his laptop so he could run the trace that would come up with a small cabin in the nearby Naboo National Park that would be empty by the time law enforcement reached it.

Tomorrow morning he would host a meeting with Leia, and detectives Kaydel and Devon and would convince them that if Rey was going to go without their blessing anyway, he might as well go with her to watch her back. He already had the strategic proposal ready for as soon as Chewie replied that they'd meet at the Taco Dãna. He could do this. He was doing it for the greater good. He could make this work.

He sighed.

-... ..- - / - .... . / .-.. ..- .-. . / .. ... / -. --- - / .-- .... .- - / .. - / ... . . -- …

"You sure you got this Ben?" Organa asked one last time in the van around the corner from Maz's restaurant.

"I'm fine, I've got all the training, a vest, and we have all the exits covered, we'll be fine." He was getting exhasperated, Rey could tell. She kept her eyes on the floor.

"Yes well, do you expect me not to worry after what happened to your father?"

Han, who's dead because of her. She was going to have to try and figure out a way to get Ben out of the inevitable line of fire, she couldn't be the reason Chief Organa lost her whole family.

"Rey," Organa's voice pulled her out of her thoughts. "Rey, I need you to look at me."

Rey looked up, but over the chief's shoulder, she'd not been able to meet her eyes since Han and Finn died.

"Rey, I need you to look me in the eyes." Rey flicked her line of sight to Leia and away. "No, hold my eye." Organa moved her face close so Rey couldn't look away and pulled back a bit. "Do not beat yourself up over Han, I'm not holding your guilt hostage for his death, you are. Honestly, the fact that Han went this long without getting a lethal wound amazed me. I know what he was up to, always has been in the grey areas and the shadows of legalities. He's got a long list of enemies, most of which he outlived. But even he can't, couldn't out run fate. He had a good run, and he did what he always did, helped the underdog no matter the cost. He grumbled about it a lot, but he always did what was right."

"Including teaching a child to gamble?" Rey asked in a quiet voice.

Ben chuckled and Organa laughed. "Especially that part." She patted Rey's cheek. "Now go out there, get Chewie, and come back. It's going to be that easy, you can do that, right?"

Rey nodded.

Organa smiled one last time and turned to Ben. "You bring that giant fur ball back, and keep Maz's in piece, got it?"

The door of the van slid open and Ben helped Rey out, slinging his arm around her shoulder and mumbling into her ear softly for her to relax, she can do this. Rey did everything she could to release her tension, but between their rescue mission and Ben's close and familiar proximity. Her heart was racing and she couldn't tell if the fluttering in her stomach was nervousness or Ben.

"We're going to be fine, this is going to be easy." She mumbled to herself.

"That's right Rey, it's going to be fine." He paused before opening the door. "You ready?"

"Nope, but open it anyway." She could do this, saving one person at a time, how hard could it be?

Ben pulled the door open and the restaurant was more subdued than she'd ever seen it before. Most of the crowd was seated and she couldn't spot a single regular aside from Maz.

"Your table is ready in the back, Rey." Maz said just loud enough to be heard over the music.

"Thanks Maz, can you send back my usual order?"

"Sure thing kid." Maz nodded.

Ben held Rey to him, kissing the top of her head. They had agreed to this so that he could scope out the room. "All clear." He whispered in her ear before tucking her back against his side and under his arm. "Come on, our table's waiting." He said loud enough to be heard by anyone nearby.

Rey let him guide her to the back but she didn't wait for him to clear the room. She pushed in, and let out a sigh of relief when she saw Chewie. She rushed in and hugged him tightly, and released him just as quickly when she heard him groan.

"Are you okay? Where does it hurt? We'll take you to the hospital to get checked out." Rey rushed.

"Rey," he rumbled. "You shouldn't be here."

"Neither should you, come on, let's get you up and moving." She insisted.

"Rey, you need to run, it's a trap."

"I know, that's why I have Ben." Rey turned to point out Ben behind her. Instead there were four leather clad bikers that she recognized from her last run-in with the Order. "Well, fuck."

"Well fuck indeed." The door pushed open to reveal Kylo Ren. "Seems we meet again, scavenger."

"I'm sorry Rey." Chewie said sadly. "I hoped you were going to stay away."

"Not when I could help you." She turned to Kylo. "I hope you know that this place is surrounded by cops!"

"Oh, you mean those two pesky detectives that have been trying to take down the Final Order for a few years now? They're a little tied up at the moment." He chuckled through the modulator.

"You better not have hurt them!"

"Or what? You'll crack my visor again with a broom handle? You'll notice we already swept the room for makeshift weapons." He held out his hand to her. "Will you come peacefully, or will I have to make Vicrul knock you out again?"

Rey shook. "Where's Ben?"

"Who?"

"The guy I came in with, where is he?"

"Oh, you'll see him soon enough. Now come along little scavenger, you have a meeting to attend." He reached forward and grabbed her by the wrist. His grip was like iron and he easily pulled her towards him. With one of the other biker's help, they bound both of her wrists together in what looked like an incredibly thick pair of zip ties. No matter how she twisted her wrists, she couldn't get it to loosen up. She tried the whole way back out of the suddenly very empty restaurant and into the small jeep awaiting them.

"That's not going to fit everyone, I volunteer to stay behind." Rey snapped sassily. 

"Nice try, but you're riding in the back seat." Ren nodded over her shoulder and before she could twist around to look, a bag was pulled over her head and tied around her neck. She was picked up bodily and tossed into the black seat, buckled in on her side so she couldn't sit up. She tried to kick her legs but found them also tying her ankles together. She grunted her displeasure at their forethought and organization. One door slammed shut and the jeep shifted as someone climbed into the drivers seat and closed the door.

"What's with this piece of crap, you guys can't afford a Land Rover?"

The familiar modulated chuckled replied. "No scavenger, Jeep TJs are loud and bumpy, you won't figure out where you are this time, so you won't be able to get home again." The jeep started up and he was right, it was loud. "Plus, I didn't think I could trust you not to scratch the leather interior." The jeep changed gears and jumped forward at a speed that was highly uncomfortable when she was lying on her side.

Rey had no idea how long they had been driving, she tried counting but lost track somewhere around two thousand, three hundred and something when they hit an especially bad pothole. The only consistent sound was the engin and the sound of the motorcycles that followed them from Maz's. She was very glad to come to the enventual stop because she wasn't sure her stomach could take much more of the road. 

"We're here." Ren called out in a sing song voice.

"Oh goodie," Rey dead panned back at him. "I'm so excited I could just die."

"Oh, don't die too quickly, you're the guest of honour tonight, Snoke and Paps both want to meet you." Suddenly she was pulled out of the jeep head first and thrown over a shoulder. A steel arm bounded around her thighs and held her firmly in place. Her torso bounced with every step, her stomach churned.

"Ugh, I'm going to be sick." She groaned.

"I wouldn't recommend it, I'm not taking off the mask until we're upstairs, and that's going to be a while. I'd hate for you to drown in your own puke." He laughed, which was echoed by a couple of other voices.

Thick rubber soles thudded mutely on stone floors and echoed through whatever room they had just entered. The doors sounded smooth when they opened, the air smelled clean, with a hint of flowers. Roses and lillies maybe? Rey really didn't know her flowers, it was never really something she had time for while she was focusing on surviving, but that felt right.

They came to a stop and waited until a ding broke the silence, Rey recognized the sound of the elevator doors sliding open. She had no choice but to shift as Ren turned, his back facing the elevator.

"You have your assignments, wait for my mark, before executing the final order."

A number of mumbled replies of affirmation chorused and she could hear the muted thuds of rubber soles on the floor, moving away from them. Ren turned back to the elevator and Rey felt the bounce as he stepped in. The doors slid shut and the next sound she heard was a blade snapping open. Rey immediately started to struggle.

"Stop that or I will end up hurting you, and neither of us want that." He snapped at her.

"Why should I make killing me easy?" She snapped back.

"Because I don't want you dead!" The silence stretched out. "If I did, you'd have been dead months ago."

Rey froze, trying to understand the implications of what he said. Ren took advantage of the moment and sliced the blade through the bindings on her ankles, and snapped the blade away again. With two hands on her hips, he grunted and slid her off his shoulder and back onto her feet. It took a second to steady herself.

"Now, if I untie the hood, you promise not to bite?"

"No."

He sighed. She could hear it though the helmet and the modulator. "Why would I have expected anything else?"

"You shouldn't." She snapped at him, it was becoming second nature. "How tall is this building anyway?"

He turned her gently, gloved fingers working the ties behind her neck. "Why, trying to figure out which floor to hurl yourself off of?" He pulled the bag off and she blinked rapidly in the sudden light.

"No, trying to figure out how long your swan dive is going to be." She turned on him quickly, almost losing her balance with her arms still tied behind her back. Ren's hands snapped out quickly to make sure she retained her footing.

"I'm curious about how you're going to manage that in your current state." He drew his hands back and crossed his arms over his chest, the way his helmet tilted let Rey know he was definitely amused and not threatened at all. She looked him over carefully, her eyes landing on the visor.

"I really did a number on your helmet, didn't I? Can't afford to fix it on your henchman salary?"

He chuckled. "First time someone's managed to land that kind of a hit on me, I thought it looked tough. Think I'll keep it like this, at least for a little while."

Rey stared at him, keeping her chin up along with her defiance. Ren turned his head to glance at the floor number, Rey's eyes following. She was shocked at the floor number.

"147th floor and climbing?" She exclaimed before she could stop herself. "Are we back in Chandrila?"

"We stop at 166, the top floor." He leaned over her. "If you want to survive at all tonight, follow my lead and don't let that smart mouth of yours off leash. I know it's hard, but try."

"Why would you want to keep me alive?"

There was a delicate ding, and the elevator doors slid open. "Not a word scavenger." He grabbed her by the arm and pushed her into a wide open room with a towering ceiling made of glass. The entire room was glass and steel I-beams. Beneath her feet, Rey could see the floor below her, shrouded in shadow. In front of her was a raised platform, not unlike a dais with with an painfully ornate gold throne. Red velvet curtains draped dramatically from the ceiling above to hang behind the throne. At even intervals, red suited security had their backs to the walls, facing the golden throne.

"Good thing I wore pants today." She mumbled under her breath.

Ren's hand tightened on her upper arm, the pressure threatening a bruise. "Quiet."

From behind the red curtains, two people came walking to the dais, both wearing long cloaks with huge hoods covering their faces. One was black, he stood beside the throne, while the other was gold, who sat upon the throne.

"Ah, young Kylo, I see you've brought a present." The man in black greeted.

"Last piece of our problem." He replied.

"I must admit, I am very surprised that she is still alive, considering the problem she poses."

"Of course Supreme Leader, but I discovered a few things while tracking her down."

Rey watched as the Supreme Leader's mouth quirked up. "Oh, and what would that be?"

"She's the reason the Finn quit."

Rey snapped her head to look up at Ren, how the hell did he know that?

The Supreme Leader and the man in gold both shifted, their attention fully on her and Ren.

"What do you mean that she's the reason?" Hissed the man in gold. "Many men have had their side pieces, what could she have possibly offered the Finn to convince him to quit?"

"She was no side piece, he saw her killed by Vicrul on his last job, or would have watched her die if Vicrul hadn’t somehow managed to fuck it up. A frame job Snoke ordered seven years ago. Didn't go as planned when a little do-gooder decided to put her nose where it didn't belong."

Rey froze, there was no way he could have known about that, Finn never would have told. It was important for both of them that everyone believed she had died back than.

"Turns out that do-gooder was one of Maa'Vak's kids. Used to train them to pick pockets, steal, beg, manipulate the streets. She was hard to bring to heel because the kids were harder to control. Didn't treat them too well either, from what I heard."

Rey was pretty sure she stopped breathing. If Maa'Vak ever found out she was alive, she'd kill her slowly. Maybe the Order was a better place to die.

"Good thing for our little scavenger here, Maa'Vak's been dead going on four years now. Too much work to keep under heel, and she had too many plans of grandiosity." Ren eased Rey's mind and she started breathing again. "But I figure, she may have been out for a while, but maybe she knew some of Maa'Vak's secret places, could lead us to the missing paperwork."

"Interesting consideration Ren, I hadn't suspected you of deeper thinking." Hissed the man in gold again.

"Thank you, Leader Snoke." Ren replied graciously.

His words were respectful, but the way his hand tightened on Rey's arm for a moment there spoke volumes at the insult.

"I live to serve, and I aim to please you and Supreme Leader Paps."

"Well," the Supreme Leader nodded. "If she has the knowledge, bring her closer and Snoke can extract it from here. It has been quite some time since he let himself get his hands dirty." That sounded as much of a command towards Snoke as it was a direction to Ren.

Ren nodded and began to pull Rey towards the two men in the centre of the room.

"Ren, you don't have to do this, I'll tell you whatever you want." She begged him as he dragged her before Snoke and the Supreme Leader. “Kylo, listen to me, there’s a right way to do things.” She continued to plead with him.

“Yes Rey, there’s also a wrong way.”

She could just see the hint of his face through the visor of his helmet. But she could see the contrast of the whites of his eyes and teeth. He was smiling.

Not knowing what else to do, Rey dropped her weight and hit the floor. Ren stumbled and let go of her. She rolled onto her stomach and scrambled to get away, but she didn’t get very far when Ren's foot came down on her back and pressed her to the floor. His weight was just enough to know he could do a lot more, but gentle enough to not constrict her breathing. He bent down and hauled her up to her feet again.

Ren turned Rey to face him again. “You have three choices.” His deep voice boomed over the silence of the room. Rey could hear the two older men smiles, expecting her to bow before her inevitable demise. They definitely didn’t know anything about her, if she was going to die she would go down kicking, screaming, and clawing. “There’s the right way, giving me everything I demand, and more. Then there’s the wrong way, letting Snoke extract the information he wants.”

“That’s only two, asshole. What’s the third?”

He unclamped his helmet and took it off, Ben’s face revealed. The feeling of betrayal was instantaneous and overwhelming, even for someone who spent her entire life angry. Well, angry and afraid, and right now those two emotions merged into a new emotion. She stumbled backwards only a step before he grabbed her by the arm and lowered his face to hers, his mouth at her ear. “Or,” he whispered barley louder than the whisper of a moth’s wing. “We could do it our way.”

The shock definitely painted across her face, and he pulled her tightly into his body before rotating her so her back was against his chest, his hand seemingly tight against the base of her throat. Rey's mind raced as she tried to put together that Ben Solo, the man that had her back, brought her back from the edge, made sure she ate and was safe, was Kylo Ren. The man that she watched kill his own father and her best friend. He could have taken her from the safe house at any time, so why didn't he?

“And which of the three has she chosen?” Chuckled Snoke, tearing her from her thoughts.

“It wasn’t much of a choice, it was stay with me and give me everything, or die pathetically like a tortured beast at your hand.” He moved his hand up her throat and forced her chin up and to the side. To Rey it wasn't a tight grip, but it was encompassing, and right now it was taking all of her focus to hope that Ben was playing a longer game than she had ever suspected he could.

But then again, maybe he couldn't take her any time because that would give him away to the rest for the FBI. Her safety must have been a cover to protect his own ass, he must have been counting on her inability to stay put and listen to rules so it was just a matter of time before he had the opportunity to grab her and Finn.

"With some training, she might make a useful tool to keep your distractions to a minimum." Snoke rumbled.

Paps to this point, said nothing, just stood there watching her and Ben with an eye that seemed to see too much. It was making Rey feel very nervous.

"I do not see how I'll be needed for what comes next." Paps said, his voice carrying from beneath his hood. "Kylo, you train her properly, no running away, no talking to cops, or anyone at all. She listens to the rules and stays a happy little house wench, or so help me, I will put you both down like dogs. Not even you are irriplacable."

"Of course, sir." Ben's hand tightened a moment on her throat. "She will be a good little house wench, never said she ever had to be happy." He laughed, but Rey could feel it in her back, and it felt forced.

So if he was covering for his Ren persona, why was we being gentle with her? Why did the laugh feel forced? This wasn't adding up in Rey's mind and she didn't like not knowing what was really going on.

"You're right," the lower half of Paps face spread in a cruel smile. "Happiness is not necessary for obedience. I will be checking up to ensure her behaviour Kylo, and I have eyes everywhere, you know that. Not one step out of line." He turned and raised his chin at Snoke who bowed his head in return, before leaving the room entirely.

"Now Kylo, my boy, bring her closer so I can have a taste."

Rey shuddered at the implication.

Ben's right hand held tightly to her right wrist, slowly pulling it back to his hip nearing his holster and he spoke clearly and confidently. "Wouldn't you rather wait until she's fully broken, sir?"

"The struggle is half the fun, you'll learn that. There's a sweetness in the taking and the breaking that you'll never find again once they're broken." Snoke's face warped in what he could only assume was a twisted smile of nostalgia. Rey couldn't suppress that shudder either as her stomach rolled.

“What would you even know about breaking people, huh.” Rey bit out before she thought. “Your face alone is enough to keep people away.” She glared at Snoke meeting his eyes and holding them. Ben’s hand tightened reflectively on around the base of her neck and her right wrist. Ya, she probably shouldn’t have opened her mouth.

Snoke chuckled lowly and leaned forward as a predatory smile crawled across his face. “Long before I got this scar I was breaking little girls like you. Little spitfires that thought they’d rather die than turn into my toys. But they learned that there are worst things in the world than death, and I am one of them.”

“Fuck, you’re disgusting!” She spat at his feet.

“Rey,” Ben hissed in her ear. “Shut up!”

“I may be disgusting. I may be a monster. But I am my own master and I dictate who lives and dies in this city. I control what happens to you, little thing, I can ensure you join the scores of brats like you that are buried in the foundations of this city. You are nothing but a fly in the ointment, but if you’ll be a decent tool to control my underlings, than so be it.” Snoke raised his eyes from Rey to Ben, and purred as if he hadn’t just insulted him. “Now bring her to me, let me have a taste before you take her to do with as you will.”

Ben jerked her hand over his hip one last time, and her fingers landed on his hip holster, she felt him unclip the strap over the grip, his thumb sliding under hers as she felt the click more than she heard it. His left hand tilted her head again and he made a show of burying his face in her hair by her ear. "The side safety is off," he whispered. "Don't you dare shoot me in the leg.” 

Ben lifted his head and shifted his hand from Rey's throat to her back. "Taste her than, but I warn you, she bites."

The next few minutes happened in slow motion. She hadn't expected Ben to fully shove her towards Snoke as soon as she had her hand on the grip of his pistol. She barely kept it steady as she stumbled forward towards Snoke's feet, landing on her knees before him. Instead of standing up, she brought the pistol up into both hands and fired towards Snoke. She pulled the trigger three times, the pistol jumping back in her hands, before she realized what she had done. Rey stood and stumbled backwards and dropped the gun.

"Jesus Christ Rey!" Ben was suddenly bent over in front of her. "Never drop a loaded weapon!" He checked the chamber, Rey saw a glimps of brass as the gun snapped back into place. "Get behind the chair and duck for cover."

Rey ran as Ben backed away from the centre of the room where the red security were moving towards him. Ben fired seven times into the the domed glass ceiling and dove backwards as the glass reigned down upon the room. The guards all dove in different directions to get away from the shrapnel. Ben was running across the room to the nearest of the elite praetorian guard, unloading two shots into his chest and then one more in his temple as he twisted and fell. They came towards him almost as a group.

From where Rey hid, she tried to watch Ben move, he was smooth, his movements controlled, no action wasted. She didn’t realize that not all of the guards were focused on him until the one grabbed her from behind and dragged her out from behind the thick curtains she had hidden herself. He pulled her in front of Snoke's body and the throne where Ben could see her. Rey twisted and turned in his arms until his sleeve slid up and she sank her teeth into his forearm. He shouted as his grip loosened a little and she was able to twist away, grabbing the baton off his him and snapping it to length with a flick of her wrist.

"Try that again," she taunted. "I dare you." She held the baton's extension behind her, her weight on her back leg, her left arm in front of her to guard.

He stared at her a moment before pulling a second baton off his other hip and charged her. She dodged his swing and matched with her own. Rey twisted and turned, her wiry movements making her very hard to hit until she managed to land a solid hit on his knee and then his shoulder. He dropped the baton as he crumpled to the ground. Rey was picking up the baton when a bullet lodged itself in the guard's head. She spun around and saw Ben lowering the gun as another guard charged him.

Rey adjusted her grip on the baton and noticed that she could twist the two handles together. She grinned widely and spun the newly made staff, this was going to be fun. She quickly moved to help Ben with the now three guards on him.

They moved like they were dancing, forward, backwards, a spin and a twist, a dodge, a handoff. They moved like they had been fighting beside each other for years. Soon enough they were out of breath, sweating, and surrounded but a pile of prone bodies, some groaning, some never groaning again. 

Ben let out a groan himself and moved towards the still breathing guards, searching them, and binding them with their own restraints one by one. He stood up, stretched, and wiped the sweat from his forehead. Rey stood still, staring at him, gripping her baton staff.

He sighed. "I think we need to have a talk."

"You fucking thing?" Rey shot back, not moving.

He held out his hand, "come on. We'll head back to the safe house, order pizza, and I'll explain everything."

"Just like that?" She was shocked. "You're just going to act all casual about the fact that you're Kylo fucking Ren?"

Ben rubbed a hand over his face. "What would you like me to say Rey?"

"That this is just some kind of horrible nightmare? That would be great. That I haven't been living with the man who wants to kill me, that'd also be cool. Or better yet, tell me Finn and Han aren't dead."

His shoulders fell forward. "They're not dead."

She stopped, her mouth open as she stared at him. "What?"

"My dad, Myrsky, they're not dead."

"But-" her mind raced, trying to replay that night in the warehouse. "But I saw you shoot them! I saw the blood."

He ran his hand through his hair again. "You're not wrong, I did shoot them Rey, the blood you saw was real. And I have to say thank you because you ran away, you made it so the team on standby could get them aid faster."

Rey blinked rapidly, trying to sort out all the information she was being given. "I, I don't understand."

Ben stepped forward and held out his hand, palm up, towards her. "Come on Rey, let's go home and I'll fill you in on what's been happening for the last ten years of my life, why I'm Kylo Ren, and what's going to happen next. But we need to be gone before the Feds show up, or worse, if Hux or Phas show up." He made a beckoning motion with his outstretched hand. "Seriously Rey, we get caught here, everything is done for, come on, let's go."

She bit the side of her bottom lip and hesitated a moment before taking his hand. Ben all but pulled her through the destroyed room, around the broken glass and bodies, behind the throne and curtains where another door was hidden almost perfectly in the the wall paneling. Beyond it was another elevator which Ben pulled her in and aggressively pushed the button. He didn't relax until the door quietly slid closed and started moving.

"I was nineteen, away at college, when Snoke first approached me. He's the head of, I mean he was the head of a major law firm, and since I was studying law, he wanted to hire me after grad. Looking back it was simply a way to lure me into the Final Order, but at the time I was flattered by the attention. I turned him down though. I fucked up big time in college, I'm not going to get into it now, but I was left in a position of choosing between a criminal record, or a tour or two in the military.

"Back than, mom was still a senator, dad was still casually smuggling, and my uncle wasn't the Director yet. But one of them definitely pulled strings to protect their reputations so that my mistakes didn't come back on them. Worked out well for me, military gave me the structure I never had growing up. Structure, and an outlet for my anger. I have a lot of it. Four years later I left the marines, and applied to Quantico. Some how got in too, not sure how unless my uncle pulled strings there too. 

"Snoke approached me again, and I ignored his offers at first. But a file came across my desk and referenced something he had eluded to when he first tried to scout me for the Order. I got suspicious and dug into it. Another agent gave me hell, went over our heads and got me put on probation simply because I asked questions. That's when I learned how deep the Order's fingers dipped. So I opened my own investigation, accepted Snoke's offer, and documented and recorded as much information and evidence as I could, hoping I could take down the Order from within.

"I have had help though." The elevator came to a stop and the doors slid open. Directly in front of them stood two of the Knights, looming over her, Rey took a step back and put Ben between her and them.

"She know yet?" One of them spoke.

"I was just getting to it, keep your helmets on until we're out."

The knight on the right tossed Ben a hoodie which he switched for his leather jacket and handed it back. He pulled the hood up and over his head and face. Ben took Rey's arm and gently pulled her from the elevator. "A few of the guys from my old platoon in the marines approached me after they retired. Finding work is hard when the only job you've ever known is violence, and the government does shit all to support it's veterans when they leave. So I took them in as Kylo. I needed people I could rely on and trust, they needed work, and I included them in my investigation as part of my resources to protect them from legal recourse when this shit hits the fan, which it's about to. I finally know and have proof who Paps is."

"No shit!" The other knight exclaimed. "Well that's good fucking news man!" The two knights high fived.

They exited the building and Ben led Rey to the Jeep TJ she was initially brought in. "Do I get to sit up this time?"

Ben chuckled. "I'll even let you have the front seat." He opened the door for her and helped her climb in. He waited until she was sorted before closing the door for her. 

Rey watched through the passenger window as Ben gave the two knights direction, other knights slowly emerging from the building and approaching. The three of them nodded before the two knights turned and met the others. It looked like they were passing on the instructions, Rey watched as the Jeep shifted and Ben closed his door and started the Jeep.

"You got your seatbelt on?" He checked. 

"Everything that's happened, and you're worried about a seatbelt?"

"Safety first Rey. You can't testify if you're dead."

"That's not even a little bit funny Ben." Rey glared at Ben. He just chuckled and pulled out of the parking lot and onto the road, taking them home to the safe house.

.- -. -.. / - .... . / .-. .- - / ... .. - ... / - .... .. -. -.- .. -. --. / .. - ... / - .... . / -.-. .- -

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!  
> Life hates me these last two weeks. Seriously. The logic board on my phone died (which makes the phone work), so I needed to replace that.  
> Then my PS4 died, so I replaced that too.  
> Get my new PS4Pro home to set up on my TV, and my fucking TV died.  
> *deep breaths*  
> Then, I was trying to finish the chapter tonight and my damned iPad (which I do all my writing on) stopped working and won't even turn on. (To be fair, it is a 4th gen, which is from 2014, but still).  
> And in my area, the COVID numbers have surpassed where we were at peak lockdown (but the guy in charge wants to listen to the provincial coroner, and not the doctor, for advice. Like really?! #!@$#!@) so I've been walking to and from work, which is 29.4km (or 6.5 hours of walking) all on top of my shifts in a retail environment.  
> It's been a difficult few weeks, to say the least.
> 
> Good news is that this chapter was 7,800 words (hopefully that makes up for my tardiness) and that there's only two chapters left and I'm going to bust my ass to try and get them out ASAP for you guys.


	11. I Don't Need Your Us or Them

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ben reveals everything to Luke  
> The Order lives up to its name  
> Rey lives long enough to make it to the stand  
> Everything is butterflies and daisies from here on out  
> ...  
> Eheheheheheh, no it's not  
> *evil laughter*

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Last time on Us or Them:**  
>  Kylo uses Chewie to pull Rey out from the safe house so he can meet with Paps  
> Rey finds out Ren is Ben  
> Rey finds out that Ben does not like to share  
> Snoke also learns this, but the hard way  
> Ben explains many things
> 
> I swear I did everything to properly embed the images and kept failing and I almost gave up, but I figured it out!  
>  _Damn it Jim, I'm an artist, not a coder!_  
>  I just want to get this damned chapter out.  
> And sorry it's taken so long, I haven't forgotten about it, but production suddenly went into full swing (despite the pandemic season, the politician in charge of making pandemic related decisions decided that the film&tele industry brings in too much money to shut down and has now been labeled an essential service *face palm*)  
> So ya, that's why this is late, I'm working six days a week, 14+ hours a day.

“You did what?” Director Skywalker roared. Ben figured he could probably have been heard in the cafe in the first floor of Luke’s condominium.

“I undertook my own investigation into the Final Order with intentions of intel gathering to bring down the organization.” Ben replied as calmly as possible. It was a strange experience, he being the calm one and Luke looking unhinged. Their family relationship had been rocky to date, their professional one being the only way they got along.

“What I’m seeing is that you’ve been working for the Final Order as a high ranking member for ten years, Ben, this will destroy your career.”

Ben shrugged. “I took every step I could to ensure that the intel and evidence gathered would be admissible in court. I have all the forms, documents, evidence, and reports both in digital with date stamps and the hard copies notarized by an official in city hall. I couldn’t do anything through the FBI officially because I wasn’t sure just how far the Order’s control extended, and it turns out very far.” Ben pointed to a file at the bottom.

Luke snatched it and flipped it open, his eyes widening almost comically. “Is this what I think it is?” He looked up at Ben.

“My lunch order?” He couldn’t resist sassing his uncle just a little. “If you think it’s the names and connections of most of the Final Order members, including where they are employed and their implication of the information leaks and control, then yes, it is what you think. But I think you should look at the last page, there are twenty-two names I think you’ll be especially interested in seeing.”

Luke flipped to the last page and read through the names, his face darkening. “Him? He was just in the office last week, he’s been one of the biggest supporters of my office and an extension of our power and elimination of cuts.”

Ben nodded. “And I wonder how he might benefit from just that?”

Luke dropped the folder and leaned back in his chair. “Is suppose you have an execution plan?”

Ben grinned widely. “I do.”

.-- .- .. - .. -. --. / ..-. --- .-. / - .... . / -- --- -- . -. - / .... . / ..-. .- .. .-.. . -..

**To: Ren; Hux; Phasma; KoR  
** **Situation is hot, stand back and stand by.**  
 **Do not reach unless an emerg**  
 **-S**

Gwen Christine sat in her office, filling in gaps of a victim profile for one of her more recent cases. It was a tough one, wrought with human and animal abuse, starvation, and long term detainment. She was recommending full time work with a rehabilitation specialist for the first while to help the victim readjust to normal life again. Well, as normal as life could be after those kinds of experiences. She wasn’t sure if it was worse because of what the victim went through, or because the abuser was a family member.

She picked up her mug, leaned back and sipper her tea as she reread though her report and recommendations. She was correcting a typo when a knock sounded on her door.

“Come on in.” She invited without looking up, rephrasing a sentence. The door opened and a shy looking man in an FBI windbreaker pushed her way in. It wasn’t unusual for the feds to find their way to her office, but she usually had a heads up. And she’d never seen this one before. Gwen saved the file she was working on and closed the lid on her laptop. “May I help you?

“Ms Christine, I was hoping you’d join me on a trip downtown?”

Gwen furled her brow as she tried to recall if she had forgotten an appointment or a court date, but nothing came to mind. “What is this about?”

“Director Skywalker wishes to talk to you about a case he’s getting ready to close.”

“I hadn’t gotten word that he was interested in my consultation.”

“It’s not a consultation, per say.” The agent pulled a collection of white papers folded in thirds, out of the inside of her jacket and passed them to Gwen across the desk.

Gwen took the papers and unfolded them, her lips pursed. As she glanced over the front page, she felt the colour drain from her face. She flipped through the next few pages and tried to casually assess the situation.

The agent raised her chin and shifted her weight ever so slightly. “Director Skywalker extended a polite curtesy cover for your escort in.” She moved the door open slightly with her foot so Gwen could see the other agents chatting within the office with her coworkers. “Out of respect for the good you have done for this office and the victims you’ve assisted in recovery and rehabilitation. Or we can take you in the normal way, your choice.”

It wasn’t much of a choice at the moment, smartest option was to in peacefully and play along with the feds until Snoke could pull the strings to release her and have the charges dropped. She glanced one more time at the extensive list of charges and she grimaced. They must of have managed to get someone on the inside but she wasn’t sure how they managed that without word being brought to Snoke. The Final Order’s network of reach and control was extensive. Something must be wrong, or Snoke has a plan, either way, Gwen did not appreciate being a pawn.

“Of course I will attend you peacefully. This is obviously a mistake, I’d be happy to prove it.” She stood, collected her purse and coat. “After you.”

The agent smiled without feeling as she stood back to let Gwen pass her out the door. “No, after you Ms Christine.”

Gwen smiled coolly and gracefully slid out the door. Most people mistook her height for masculinity when it was grace and strength, and this time, her strength was in acting as if she had no physical strength to her, to play the part of the graceful peacekeeper. There would be time later to collect badge numbers and destroy their careers and lives after. She paused at her secretary’s desk. “Cassondra, I’m heading downtown for the rest of the day, I won’t be returning this afternoon.”

“Of course Ms Gwen, have a good day.”

“You as well.” And with that, Gwen allowed the agent to guide her to the elevator, down and out of the building, the other agents following close behind.

The first thing Gwen noticed when she was led into precinct 11 was that the normally bustling cop shop fell silent. All eyes swivelled towards her and her escort through the desks and towards the interrogation rooms. The second thing she noticed was that Ren was sitting at a desk, hands cuffed behind his back. His lips were firmly pressed into a thin line as his eyes tracked her path through the precinct.

She was led down a hall, a door opened on the right and she barely stopped herself from gasping as she recognized Hux’s voice raised and threatening all possible forms of legal action on the police, precinct, and city with a skill that only a lifelong criminal lawyer could. Well, that explained what Hux’s cover job was and probably why Snoke had recruited him in the first place. She was stopped in front of a door and all but pushed into the room as a commotion raised and shouting voices echoed and one of Ren’s Knights, Vicrul she thought, tried to run back the way she came from, a number of officers hot on his heels. There was a thud as bodies hit the floor and shortly after she saw the officers dragging the Knight back past her door.

Her agent stood between Gwen and the door. “You‘ll sit and wait nicely for the Director? We’re not going to need to handcuff you, are we?”

Gwen quietly shook her head as she sat down. “In his own time, I’d be happy to do whatever I can to clear up this mistake.” Judging by the agent’s stiffness, Gwen figured her smile hadn’t reached her eyes. Oh well, she thought, Snoke would be getting them out of her very shortly.

An hour or so later, Director Skywalker walked into her interrogation room, the door closing slowly enough that she saw the listing red hair of a very irate Hux being escorted past.

“Ah, so now that the gang’s all here, we can get this party started.” The director said in a tone that was anything but jovial. “And by gang, I do mean all the major players of the Final Order.” He flipped open a very thick folder and spread a series of photos that identified her and Hux in Plutt’s Automotive. “Let’s start here and move back, after all, we have a lot to cover with your covering up for the Final Order.”

Gwen could feel the blood drain from her face, this wasn’t what she had expected. “I want my lawyer.”

“I’m afraid Armitage is currently detained in a different room.” Skywalker paused. “Oh, you mean your actual lawyer, you’re more than welcome to call. Unfortunately we have a long lineup at the phone, big bust by Major Crimes today, lots of people wanting lawyers. You don’t mind if we chat while you wait, do you?”

“I have nothing to say to you."

“No?” Skywalker looked closely at her. “No, you really don’t do you. Hmm, well why don’t you listen and pipe up when you feel something needs to be corrected.”

She clenched her jaw as he started talking about what went down at Plutt’s, talking like he had been there, three year ago. Gwen was not going to rise to his goading, she interlocked her fingers on the table in front of her and listened as Skywalker shared more information about Final Order business than he should have ever known.

... --- / ... .... . / -.-. --- ..- .-.. -.. / .-- .- - -.-. .... / .... .. -- / ..-. .-.. .- .. .-..

Ben worked hard to cover his ass as both Ben and Ren, if he wanted to get Paps where he needed him to close this, there were a few last things to do to lure him in.

And with the cloned access to Snoke's phone, Ben was able to keep track of everyone else trying to reach Snoke, and reply is absolutely necessary, but so far leaving Snoke unreachable had worked well. Based on Paps' texts, he was none too impressed with the face of the Order's leadership.

But he was finally ready to cast his bait and slowly reel in Paps. He was beyond done with the stress of protecting Rey, Myrsky, and his father, and he was definitely ready to shed his snake skin undercover persona as Kylo Ren. But mostly, he was looking forward to bringing down one of the most dangerous organized syndicates the country had ever seen.

He could feel his shoulders tense up more and his jaw clench. He consciously force himself to try and relax, he was no one's blunt tool and Paps was about to learn that he, and everyone, had severely underestimated who and what Ben was capable of.

"Ben," Rey's voice came quietly from his bedroom door. "Ben, you okay?"

He nodded, mostly to himself before turning to face her from his desk and saw she was holding the turtle in front of her. "Ya, what do you need, is BeeBeeAte okay?"

She shook her head. "Nothing's wrong, he's fine, just took him for a run in the back yard." She cleared her throat. "I just wanted to make sure you were okay, she've been really focused on your phone and I wanted to make sure we're still safe."

That forced him to sit up straighter, unclench his jaw, and roll his shoulders. "Everything good Rey, just doing some work stuff."

"On your phone? You hate working on your phone."

He chuckled, she kept reminding him of how observant she was, because he forgot sometimes, until they played a round of sabacc. "I do, but sometimes it's easier to do somethings on my phone." He nodded his chin at the turtle that was starting to swipe at the air, looking like he was swimming. "Think BeeBee might want to get back into his pool now."

"Ya, ya, I know, ow!" She glared pointed at the turtle and rearranged her hands to avoid most of the claws. "No one warns you how fast turtles really are, or how much their claws hurt. Yes, yes BeeBee, we're going back to the tank." She started to walk down the hall to her room. "Night Ben!" She called before she shut her door.

"Night Rey," he whispered back. "Sweet dreams."

\- .... . / - .-. .- .--. / .. ... / ... .--. .-. ..- -. --.

Rey twisted her hands together. She had put on a nice outfit that Chief Organa picked out for her; a long, light grey, shirt dress with a belt and a pair of plain flats. The cuffs and collar had a bit of lace, the belt was a wide leather thing in a slightly darker grey than the dress, with a round buckle that looked like it had the silhouette of a phoenix in the centre. Her shoes were a flat, delicate looking oxford style in nude. The Chief told her the outfit would make her look sweet, innocent, trustworthy. It turned out as Organa, Ben, Kaydel and Devon coached her for the stand, there was a lot more to staging and phrasing than she’d expected. She thought she’d just give answers, but no, she had to make herself look smaller, scared, weaker, more innocent so that the judge and jury were more likely to believe her. It was just as much, if not more important than the actual evidence. This caused Rey to grimace and argue against the system. Everyone agreed that it was broken, but right now they needed to play the game so that the Final Order couldn’t any more.

Rey looked in the mirror one last time and let out the breath she had been holding. It was going to be a long day and she wasn’t going to have the comfort of being able to sit next to the people she cared about. She touched her hair and tried to resist pulling the loose waves back into a bun to get the hair off her neck. One more deep breath and she let herself out of her room. Ben was waiting, leaning against the opposite wall in the hall, holding a mug. He offered it out to her as she approached. 

“You’re going to be fine Rey. After today, you’ll not have to worry about the Order any more.”

“And what about you?”

He ran a hand through his hair. “Don’t worry about me, just focus on what you need to do on the stand today. Once you’ve been cross examined and released from the stand, you’re going to be free to go.”

“How are you so sure?”

“Because the last piece of the puzzle is about to make itself very known in the worst way possible for the Order. And it’s all thanks to you.”

She took a deep breath, her nose hovering over the mug. “And you won’t let anything happen to me?”

Ben ducked his head to catch her eye. “I will do absolutely everything in my power to make sure you walk out of the courtroom today. Everything Rey."

She nodded at him. “I trust you.” Rey took a sip of her tea and hummed. “Hey, this evening do you think we could go out for ice cream? I’m sick of cooking.”

Ben raised a brow at her. “You mean you’re sick of my cooking?”

She was pretty sure she turned red. “It’s not that I don’t like or appreciate your cooking, it’s just that, well.” Her voice trailed off, unsure of how to articulate what she meant.

“You mean that you’ve been under lockdown for about two years and you want to go out in public without having to break out of the safe house and ditch your security detail?”

Rey definitely turned red.

Ben grinned widely at her. “Let’s do a restaurant that isn’t the Taco Daña and go out for ice cream.”

Rey nodded, a grin slowly spreading across her face. "Okay."

The trial had been dragging all morning, the plaintiff was preparing to bring their first witness, her, to the stand but the defence had been doing everything they could to stop it. She had been kept in a room separate from the trial with only her protection and a TV showing the judge, jury, and lawyers. She couldn't see Ben any where. But he had warned her that he had to be in the audience in order to be able to finish what he started. That confused her, what was he planning to do? Her gut churned again, as it had all morning since they arrive in court.

"Don't worry, they'r just being all dumb and lawyer-y." Chuckled Kaydel, obviously trying to lighten the mood.

"That's not what I'm worried about, I have a bad feeling and I don't know what's wrong." Rey couldn't explain it, how did one explain that every time she had a bad feeling like this, someone got hurt? No one here would believe her. She sighed instead. "Never mind, it's just a dumb feeling."

"Now, now, never ignore a gut feeling, those instincts can save your life." Chief Organa pushed off from the wall at the back of the room where she had been standing. "I did that once and my brother lost his hand."

Rey looked confused. "I don't understand."

Organa laughed. "My brother and I were adopted out raised by two different families after our mother died in child birth." She shrugged as if it were the most casual thing in the world to mention. "Turned out that the reason was daddy dearest was a bit of a terrorist. And by bit, I mean he was one of the founders of the First Order, which we now know as the Final Order. What a legacy, right?

"It was Luke's first big mission with the FBI, in fact, he was supposed to going to an elite training session when he got timed intel on the whereabouts of Vader." She waved a hand. "We didn't know he was other father at this point. So Luke goes and did what Luke and Han do best: run head first into trouble without thinking."

She paused and started patting her pockets until she found her cigarettes and lit one, taking a long and satisfied drag.

"Ma'am, you're not supposed to be smoking in the courthouse," Devon reminded her. "Remember what Judge Antilles said last time?"

"Yes and he's currently busy presiding over our case. He can ream me out later." She took another drag. "Now where was I? Ah yes, I knew something was wrong, I knew I should call and check to make sure he arrived at the training, but I ignored the feeling. It's just a feeling, right? The next morning I got a phone call that he hadn't arrived and almost as soon as I hung up, Han called me saying he picked up Luke on the side of a road and had taken him to the hospital. Some how Luke found himself up on some scaffolding while confronting Vader, in a fucking knife fight. Who the fuck gets into a knife fight with the head of the First fucking Order? The current director of the fucking FBI, that's who." She let out an annoyed sound. "But that's Luke, react and then clean up. I'll never know how he became director after that stunt, but whatever."

"Chief Organa?" Rey asked quietly. "Is everyone in your family this drama prone?"

The room froze. Kaydel and Devon glanced at each other, worried. Organa stared down Rey, her face belying no emotion.

"I guess we are." She shrugged again before another drag that almost finished the cigarette. "Even Vader turned informant at the very last moment. Literally his dying breaths gave Luke the information he needed to dismantle the First Order."

"Well he didn't do a very good job, they came back." Rey said without thinking. "Oh, shit, I didn't mean it like that!"

Organa laughed. "Not sure how you could mean it any other way, but you're not wrong kid." She looked up at that TV. "Looks like story time is over, your turn to dismantle a huge organization. Do me and Ben proud."

"Hey!" Called out Devon as they laughed.

"Yea, I guess do these two detectives proud too." She winked at Rey. "If you have to."

Rey was led into the courtroom by a police officer and sworn in. She barely had a chance to look around the room to find Ben in the audience before the lawyer started asking her questions.

"Can you describe the events of the evening of the 236 day of the year 34 A.B.Y?"

"Do you recognize anyone in the room from that night?"

"What exactly happened on the 311th, in 35 A.B.Y?"

"Did you have any reason to be concerned for your safety in the Taco Daña?"

"Let's jump to the 112th of 37 A.B.Y, can you walk us through those events."

"Do you recognize anyone in the room from those events?"

"And you saw Kylo Ren shoot and kill both Han Solo and Finn Myrsky?"

"How did you escape?"

"How did you get back to your safe house? That was almost 90 miles, 88.7 to be exact."

"You were taken a second time, on the 151th of 37 A.B.Y, can you detail that out for the court?"

"And in the tower Kylo Ren revealed his identity to you?"

Rey nodded. "Yes."

"And is Kylo Ren here in the court room today?"

Rey nodded again, barely vocalizing her answer.

"Can you point them out to the court please?"

Rey nodded one last time, her eyes sweeping the audience, past the knights. She paused on them for a moment, her brows furling. No, she was looking for Ben. She kept searching, he'd moved. She spotted one of Kylo's, no, Ben's knights sitting next to Senator Palpatine in the first row and grimaced. She and Finn never liked him, he always felt slimy, he seemed slippery, it never sat well with her. Before she could look away, Palpatine met and held her gaze, a thin and cruel smile slipping onto his lips as he pressed something on his cellphone. His smile widened. She tore her eyes away and found Ben. "There he is." She pointed him out.

"You're pointing at Special Agent Ben Solo."

"Yes, that is correct."

"To be clear, your handler and protection detail, the FBI Agent Ben Solo, was Kylo Ren."

"Yes. But-"

It happened suddenly, the shouting, the loud sounds, the flurry of movement, being grabbed. The only thing that was clearly registering was that mostly no one was reacting like they should.

\- .... . / .-. .- - ... / .- .-.. .-.. / -.-. .- ..- --. .... -

Ben knew it was going to happen, he was anticipating it, and he had planned for it. Alp'ek was seated to the left of Palpatine, his side arm in plain view of the Senator, making it easy to set him up. Ben sat on the inside of the bench, right on the isle, so in the case of the worst possible scenario, he'd be able to move easily.

He was antsy. He had an idea of what was coming, he knew Rey was going to take the stand and he figured that Paps was going to send a kill order to Kylo and the Knights and he had worked very hard to control the number of variables. Phasma and Hux were both up front and on trial, Skywalker called in every available officer that was trained for undercover field work, and they had stacked the room. Reporters were pushed to the very back of the room in order to limit their exposure to the very potential violence about to come to a head. All he could do as he watched Rey on the stand was to hope. Hope that his worst expectations would not come to fruition.

But then Rey pointed him out as Kylo Ren, and everyone in the room except for the federal lawyer turned to look at him in shock. Right, Luke didn't tell anyone in advance. This isn't going to end well for him, Ben thought. From the corner of his eye, he saw Palpatine playing with his phone. All of the Knights stiffened and casually checked their notifications. Ben looked at his smart watch and confirmed that the kill order had just been sent. Will all eyes on Ben, the Knights had their chance to follow through, but remained stock still.

"What are you waiting for," directed Palpatine. "Arrest him!"

Of all the different scenarios Ben had prepared for, this wasn't exactly one of them. Palpatine's direction triggered all the agents to jump towards Ben. His Knights leapt forward to help him. Palpatine took the opportunity in the chaos to grab Alp'ek's pistol and fire at Rey. His shot hitting its mark.

The agents dog piled on top of Ben and he lost sight of Rey and what was happening. But he could hear, and he didn't like what he heard. There was a shout, followed by what sounded like an argument, someone hit the bench he was being restrained under hard enough to shift it. Then there was the distinct bang of a .40 cal Glock. Ben growled and pushed himself up, shifting some of the men, before rolling under the bench and forcing himself to his feet.

At a quick glance he could see four things.

One, Palpatine was literally holding a smoking gun with an agent bleeding on the floor before him.

Two, that smoking gun was shifting to point at Rey.

Three, there was no one close enough to protect Rey

Four, Rey was frozen. She seemed in shock, or maybe she was disassociation, but whatever she was, it was not responding to the severity of the situation.

Ben climbed over the back of the bench and leapt over the barrier between the trial and the audience and straight into the lawyer's table. He glanced at Palpatine one more time and blanched. Time moved slowly. He could see the finger start to squeeze on the trigger, he could calculate the projection of the bullet, and he knew he wasn't close enough to grab Rey, but maybe, just maybe, there was still a chance. Mounting the table, he threw himself bodily into the path of the bullet. He felt it impact his chest before he hit the floor. Rey should be okay now.

A second bullet fired and he heard her scream.

-. --- / --- -. . / ... ..- ... .--. . -.-. - . -.. / - .... . / .-.. --- -.-- .- .-.. / -- --- ..- ... .

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ya. So that ending? I'm so, so sorry.  
> I am working on the conclusion as soon as I post this. Hopefully out sooner, but definitely by next Wednesday.


	12. I Don't Want Your 'Us or Them'

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Conclusion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Last time on Us or Them:**  
>  Ben tells Skywalker about his undercover action within the Final Order  
> Luke has a conniption  
> Gwen, Hux, and the Knights are arrested  
> Ben sets up Paps  
> Rey has her day in court  
> Everything went wrong

"Rey," she could hear Ben call from downstairs. "Rey are you ready to go yet?"

She was dressed, she had her shoes on, her teeth brushed, and she couldn't move. They had supposed to have gone for ice cream and dinner after her court date last week, but after he took a shot to his vest, and Ben had managed to get her checked out for the injury she sustained, they decided to just go home. And then the next eight days had been a mad house. Ben was called in as witness and had to explain his role in both the FBI and the Final Order, as well as under investigation in the FBI because of the unorthodox filing of the investigation. Apparently even the Director was in hot water over it. A lot was riding on the results of the Final Order trial which had just adjourned for the jury's decision yesterday afternoon.

Maybe that's why she was feeling nervous? Because she was awaiting the trial results? Definitely had nothing to do with her not knowing what was next. She had no home to return to, no Finn, no job. Ben had encouraged her to do online classes, which she eventually took him up on after disassembling and reassembling the old washer and drying in the basement. But how was she to afford the classes when the FBI was no longer protecting her and paying for her day to day. Truth be told, she had come to appreciate things like quality cut meats, fresh vegetables, snacks and meals whenever she wanted them. It was going to be a crappy period of adjustment, but BeeBee wouldn't notice, she'd make sure of that.

"Rey," Ben's voice came softly from beside her. She jumped and spun around. "Is everything okay?"

"Ya," she replied with a flippancy she didn't feel. "Fine, everything's fine."

He stared at her, after three years, she thought she'd be used to the looks, the stares, the way he seemed to be able to see her ad know exactly what she was thinking and feeling. She should be used to it by now, she really should, but she always felt so exposed in front of him, and exposed was a weakness. She didn't like feeling weak.

"No, you're not, it's not." He gently pulled her hand and led her to her bed and eased her down to sit. "Now what's going on in there?" He gently tapped her temple with one of his rudely long fingers before he froze. "Or is it your chest?"

"Naw," she shook her head. "It's fine. I was just thinking."

He sat on the bed beside her. "About what?"

"How much has changed and how it's going to change again."

"Rey, nothing's going to change that you don't want to change."

She looked up at him and gave him an incredulous look. "I think you misunderstand me. The trial is over, Finn is dead, I have no job, no apartment, no education, and no savings. I have no idea where I'm supposed to go after the Feds kick me out of this place. What I'm supposed to do."

He was quiet for a while. "You don't have to leave, if you don't want to."

"I can't live in a federal safe house Ben, that's not how things work." She rolled her eyes and stared unseeingly towards the vanity mirror.

"I'm serious Rey, you can stay until you get yourself on your feet. This isn't a federal safe house, this is my father's rental property, and he'll be fine to not have rent for a while. As for the classes you've been taking, those are paid off. All you have to do is attend, do your work, and pass them. Then you'll be ready for a better paying job than some mob owned garage that treats you like shit."

She huffed a sad laugh. "Your dad won't mind." Of course he wouldn't, he was dead.

"You sure your chest isn't bothering you? You sure they got all the ceramic out?" He sounded worried.

"I didn't tell the doctors how to do their job, but with the way you were hovering, I'm sure they were extra careful to do so."

"I was not hovering."

"Ya. You were. Like a helicopter mom."

"Was not." He harumphed. "I just wanted to make sure none of it got near your heart."

She turned and studied his face, he still looked worried even though it was a week ago. "It wasn't even close." She said softly and put her hand on his shoulder.

He rolled his eyes at her, a slight but stiff smile on his lips. "I know that now. I don't even know what my mother was thinking, putting you in a ceramic plate vest."

"She was thinking to keep me safe and use a vest that would fit under my clothes that no one would notice." She shrugged at him. "I knew there was a small chance that the plate could break under impact, but we were expecting a 9mm round, not a 40."

He tugged her into a gentle hug. "I don't care if it was a responsible choice or not, if I want to be angry at my mother, I will be and you can't stop me."

Rey chuckled softly into his shoulder. "If I didn't know better Ben, I'd think you were worried about me."

"More than you'll ever know." He released her and stood up. "Now, if you're feeling a little better, can I suggest we get a move on, we're going to be late for dinner."

"It's not like anyone's going to notice."

"Rey, it's a family dinner, which means that if we're late, my mother and Luke will absolutely make inappropriate comments about it."

"Okay, let's go, but only because your mother has zero filter." She stood up and followed him out of the room.

"Ya, she's still not half as bad as my dad." He grumbled.

Rey sat at the table, directly across from Ben at a too big table hidden at the very back of the restaurant, awkwardly sipping water. Ben seemed extra stiff and antsy, Rey narrowed her eyes and watched him carefully. He was looking around anywhere but at her, any time there seemed to be movement, he jerked,

"Is everything okay? You're not using me as bait again, are you?" Rey tried to make it sound like a joke, but she was genuinely starting to get concerned.

"No," he jerked his head up to meet her eye for the first time since they entered the restaurant. "Of course not. Rey, Palpatine, Phasma, and Hux are behind bars, you're safe and free."

"Ya, until they get out." She grumbled.

"Why would you even say that?" Ben shot her a concerned look.

She rolled her eyes at him. "They're all rich and white, why the hell would they stay behind bars?"

"Because the judge and jury will rule on jail time, because the evidence is piled against them, because you were able to turn state witness and give a first hand testimony, they're not going anywhere."

"Is that why you're constantly looking over my shoulder?" She narrowed her eyes at him.

Ben let out a slow breath and a sigh. "No Rey, you're safe, I promise." He ran a hand through his hair awkwardly. "I have to tell you something and I need to you promise to listen to everything before you yell at me."

Rey just cocked a brow at him.

"Okay, and I know I should have told you sooner, and I'm really sorry, I just didn't know how to do it without blowing everything." He took a deep breath, opened his mouth and was interrupted.

"Ben was always one for dramatics," Chief Organa said as she approached the table and sat down at an empty seat. "But you don't mind a small invasion for a family dinner, do you?"

Rey was stunned, whatever she was expecting Ben to say, this wasn't it. Even Ben looked a little surprised. "Uh, no, that's fine. I expect you'd want to have a celebratory dinner with your son."

"No Rey, I wish to have a celebratory dinner with my family." She held Rey's eye and flicked her wrist, probably summoning the server behind her.

"But I'm not-"

"Don't you dare finish that sentence, young lady, after everything you've done for my family, you're part of it now. Hell, the only way to be more family is if Ben hurried his ass up and settled down with you." Organa turned her sights on her son. "I'm not getting any younger, I'd like to see grand children before I die, thank you."

Both Rey and Ben went beet red.

"Aw princess," Han said as he bent down to peck a kiss onto Organa's cheek. "You can't embarrass the kids like that. Knowing Ben, he's probably not said anything to Rey yet." He sat down beside his wife. "Plus, we don't even know if Rey's got any interest in having or raising kids."

Organa nodded, a little disgruntled. "Yes dear, I suppose you're right." She turned to Rey. "What is your opinion on kids?"

Rey sat slack jawed, not sure what was happening. Across from her, Ben was sitting awkwardly, his face scarlet. Beside her, the chief of police was talking about grand children and wondering her opinion as if Rey had any right to involvement on a family matter like that. And beside the chief sat Han Solo, a man she saw shot to death along with Finn.

"Rey?" Organa asked, pulling her slightly from her thoughts.

"Uh, yes Chief Organa?" She tried to be polite and focus, but her mind was reeling.

"I asked what your opinion of children were."

"Uh, they're loud, smelling, expensive, and difficult to manage." She answered in a daze, not really paying attention, trying to look around. If Han Solo was alive, could Finn be too? "I'll stick with my turtle if it's all the same to you."

Her comment was met with silence, she would have noticed if she could see anything other than the dark skinned man making his way through the restaurant. Rey threw herself out of the chair so fast it knocked completely over. She couldn't be bothered to care about anything as she wrapped her arms around Finn and hugged him tight, crying into his shoulder.

"Rey," Finn tapped her back. "Rey, I can't breathe."

She loosened her grip on him ever so slightly. "I have half a mind to kill you for not contacting me sooner!"

"We would have seen each other sooner if everything thing in court hadn't gone belly up. Solo had planned for us to meet up with you for ice cream that evening."

"Ben?" Rey turned round and stared at the giant of a man who was currently trying to make himself smaller.

Finn wrapped an arm around Rey and guided her back to the table, he took the seat directly beside her. "Sure, Ben. He had so many contingency plans for that day, hoping that he was not going to need to shoot us, but luck wasn't exactly in our favour." He shrugged. "Or it sort of was? Because you booked it under Phasma's watch, the paramedics were able to get to us faster, so you helped save us Rey, you're a hero."

Rey stared at Finn, blinking rapidly as she tried to make all the pieces fit together. In a sudden moment, everything snapped into place and she understood what was going on around her. "I guess we can call it even then."

Finn grinned widely. "Deal."

"I have a question," Ben interjected gently. "You met Finn because Vicrul shot you, correct?"

Finn and Rey froze, Rey turned on Finn. "You told him!"

"I did not! Well, I mean I told Han some of it, but never that detail." Finn rounded on Ben. "How the hell did you know about that?" He demanded.

Ben shrugged, "Malarus remembered you got out after watching a kid that fit her description get killed. But Vicrul is never so cruel as to leave someone to bleed out slowly like Rey did, so I am curious to know, how did you survive?"

"I have dextrocardia." Rey shrugged. "Um, my heart is on the right side of my ribs." Her voice was quiet.

Organa started to laugh. "So that's why you were so damned insistent on finishing up the day in court, you knew that the shot last week couldn't have killed you."

Rey nodded. "Well, I mean it could have collapsed my lung, but that hadn't happened. Don't get me wrong, it was painful as all hell, but it was less painful than having to delay my time on the stand." She shrugged and let her voice trial off.

Han bellowed a laugh. "I bet Ben here didn't know that with all the pacing he did in the waiting room."

Rey furled her brow at Han. "You were there?"

"No," he shook his head. "But Leia was and she did not hesitate to give me a play-by-play of his pacing, growling, and threatening of the doctors. He's very protective of you, you know."

"I don't see why," she played it off. "It's not like I'm needed any more, my part in the trial is over."

"Oh peanut," cooed Finn. "Everyone needs a little more Rey in their life, that grumpy bastard especially."

When Rey looked up, Ben looked like he was going to argue before giving her a half shrug and nodding. Rey looked around the table, everyone was smiling at her. "What? What am I missing?"

Finn chuckled and pulled her into a hug. "Only the most obvious, I'm glad to see you haven't changed."

"I do not miss the obvious!" She argued punching his shoulder when he released her from the hug. "I'd never have survived this long if I had!"

Finn rubbed his shoulder. "Yup, definitely haven't changed a bit. Come on, let's eat! It's been way too long."

Rey nodded before stopping. "Uh, I thought Director Luke was going to be joining us, or was that a cover for these two?"

Organa smiled as she beckoned a waiter to the table. "He'll be along shortly, he's waiting at the courthouse for the results."

Rey blanched. "Chief Organa, has the jury not come to an agreement yet?"

"They have, they should have been reading and sentencing as we arrived. No one wanted to worry you or interrupt your reunion with Finn with shop talk." She nodded at the waiter whom just arrived before turning to Rey. "And seeing as we're practically family, I'm going to have to insist you call me Leia, no more of this Chief Organa shit, got it?" She turned back to the waiter and ordered for the whole table.

Rey nodded slowly, hiding her face from everyone so they wouldn't see her eyes water and she distracted herself with her glass of water. Finn casually reached over and squeezed her leg under the table.

Twenty minutes later, the table was covered in appetizers and Luke had just arrived. "Seems I have good timing." He said as he sat down and began to help himself to the food. "So Myrsky," he said shoving a dumpling into his mouth and chewing quickly. "How's Dameron doing?"

Rey stared in wonder as Finn's skin darkened into a rosy hue, she turned bodily towards him. "What's a Dameron? A he? A she? A they?"

"Luke, don't talk with your mouth full!" Chief, no, Leia admonished him before promptly eating a dumpling too.

"Dameron's just a someone I met."

"Can't be that much of a just, if the Director of the FBI is asking after them." Rey raised a brow and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Kid's got a point," Han agreed. "Might as well spill the beans so I don't have to."

"Dameron was a nurse in the hospital who also did the the home care for Han and I."

Han's laugh filled the room. "Oh no you don't kid, we definitely did _not_ get the same in-house service."

Rey hadn't known it was possible for Finn to go redder. "Are you-" she cut herself off when she realized he wouldn't meet her eye. "Did you fucking get yourself a toy-friend while I was stuck under house arrest!"

"If you didn't keep sneaking off-" Ben argued.

"A toy-friend?" Laughed Leia. "What's that even mean?"

Rey turned, her turn to go red in the face a little. "Finn didn't specify gender, not did he specify relationship, so toy friend is kinda a gender neutral, and covers all relationship types." She shrugged before continuing on more quietly. "Made sense to me."

"He's not my fuck toy," grimaced Finn. "If that's what you're asking. He and I have been getting pretty serious, which is why I want you to meet him. If you don't like him, then I wont either." He crossed his arms as if it was final.

Rey grinned widely. "We both know that's a lie, you obviously like him a lot Finny Bear! I'm happy for you!"

"You may change your mind about that," Finn's voice got serious. "He's asked me to move in with him, now that the trial is over with and I'm allowed to be alive again. I told him I couldn't make any decision until I spoke to you, I want to make sure you're okay, I'm not going to leave you alone Rey." He gently took her hand. "Not again."

Rey shot a look at Leia who was definitely trying really hard to look at anything but her and Finn, as, it seemed, was the rest of the table's occupants. The false privacy was considerate if a little impractical. She turned back to Finn and gripped his hand back. "Man, you've saved my ass more than once, kept me alive when you shouldn't have, ditched the career you were being groomed for, put up with BeeBee's filter noises, and basically let me live on your floor for years. It's time to do something for you first." She tried to shrug casually and put on a lopsided smile to cover up the depth of the irrational abandonment she was feeling. "Plus, I was already planning my life without you, seeing as you've been dead and all."

Finn laughed wetly and leaned back in his chair. "Ya, well, just call me Black Jesus."

"Dude, Jesus came back after three days, not three years!" She laughed and slapped him playfully on the shoulder.

"When have I ever been on time? Ever Rey?"

She tried to think, and snapped her fingers before pointing at him. "Oh! There was that one time where we needed to be at the social service interview to be approved for assistance! You were even early." She sounded smug, even to herself.

Finn tried to think before he started laughing. "We were only early because you told me the meeting was two hours earlier than it actually was."

The table erupted in muffled laughter, they had been trying so hard to keep to themselves while she and Finn had their moment, but apparently there was only so much they could do about not listening.

"You gonna be okay Peanut?"

She nodded.

"You've got a place lined up yet? New job?"

Her face paled while she put on a brave smile. "I've got a few leads, you know me, I'll always find a way to make it work."

"She can stay in the house," Han interjected. "It was a rental property before this whole thing, and she's already there. If you want, that is." Han offered meeting her eye.

"I can't afford some place in in-suite laundry, but thanks Han." She tried to casually joke about it.

"I already offered that to her, she's too stubborn about it." Ben rolled his eyes at her.

"What if you had a roommate?" Han tried. "Someone to split the costs with?"

"BeeBee doesn't pay rent, you know that." She joked again. "He's a lazy freeloader."

"I was thinking someone more hot headed, I mean warm blooded." Han grinned widely at her.

"Oh, that's a great idea Han!" Leia joined in. "Then you would have renters you could trust not to destroy the house, that's a wonderful idea!"

"Though, we can't say the same about the appliances." Luke grinned as he looked at Rey.

"It was one time, _one_ time! And they work now, so I don't know what everyone's complaining about!" Rey defended.

"And then I might even be able to get grand babies out of the deal?" Leia added hopefully.

"Mom, stop it." Ben said flatly at her. "If you want grandkids so much, adopt some."

Leia rolled her eyes. "I want grandkids to spoil, not kids to raise. Adopting kids at my age isn't a good idea."

"Ya, we see how well it turned out the first time you tried to raise a kid, and you weren't this age then, might not be an age problem." Ben glared at her. "And plus, stop trying to pawn off your wants on me. Again."

Rey had been watching the back and forth with amusement and then confusion. "Hold on, I'm obviously missing something, but how did we get from you trying to get me to rent the house to Ben giving you grand kids?"

The table turned to face Rey, every eye on her.

"Oh peanut, you definitely missed something."

"Brilliant mechanic, but definitely no Sherlock."

"Shut it Uncle Luke." Ben sighed. "What my mother is trying to force is that I haven't admitted to you how I feel, and she's trying to make things happen instead of letting me do things my own way. Again." He glared at his mother whom had her mouth open to say something before shutting it again and looking bashful. "I like you, never thought I would when I was first assigned to you, but you are a dynamic, strong willed, stubborn, intelligent, domineering, and the most kind hearted, if a bit vindictive, soul I have ever met. I like you, and I'd like you to stay around longer."

Her mind was reeling, trying to process what he was saying. She knew all the words, she understood all the words, but she didn't quite grasp how they applied to her. "Okay, I like you too."

Ben let out a soft huff.

"Rey, peanut," Finn grabbed her hand and patted the back of it like she was a child. "He _likes_ you. As in like like, not this 'hey you're cool, let's play sabacc', more like 'let's do the nasty'."

Ben went wide eyed and blushed.

Rey snatched her hand back and glared at Finn. "Don't be crass, he does not!"

Finn grinned, "why don't you say that to him?" He waved a hand at the red-faced Special Agent across from them.

"Well, I wouldn't have said it quite like that, but I do like you enough to turn the living room into a blanket fort again."

Rey's jaw dropped. "But you hated the mess I made with everything."

"I am aware."

She blinked at him. "You'd be willing to let me make blanket forts in the common area? Really?"

"As long as you keep it out of the kitchen."

"It was one time!" Rey shot back.

"There seems to be a lot of these 'it was one time' situations," Luke casually mentioned, leaning forward. "I wonder how many of them didn't make it into the field reports?"

"You'll never know Luke, never." Ben shot back, never taking his eyes off Rey. "So what do you say, little one, stay in the house with me? Maybe try and see where this goes?"

Rey nodded slowly, glancing at Leia before focusing all her attention on Ben. "Sure, but one condition."

"Anything for you." He nodded.

"No kids. I want to finish school and work. And you get shot at, a lot."

"That's okay," agreed Leia. "There's time to get settled into the routine before children."

Rey shook her head. "No. No kids. I have no interest in ever having or raising kids. You probably know more about my background than I do, I don't ever want to risk it. I have no interest in it. If it's a deal breaker, then fine, we walk away. But I will never change my mind on this."

Ben's eyes left hers only for a brief moment when his mother took in a stuttering gasp. "That's fine. I had a fucked up childhood too, not sure I had a solid parenting example to pull from even if I ever wanted kids. Which I don't, just to be clear." To Rey, it sounded more like he was saying that to his mother and not to her. "I'm here for you, to make you and I happy. Anyone else that's happy as a result is just bonus."

They smiled at each other across the table.

"When she's mad at you," Finn said quietly after a very pregnant pause at the table. "A fuzzy blanket and ketchup chips."

Ben tore his eyes away from Rey and looked at Finn in a mix of confusion and horror. "What the hell are ketchup chips?"

"They're in the foreign food section, you'll want them, it'll smooth her over until you can talk." He laughed. "But don't try to talk to her before the bag is empty."

"Food, the great Rey Problem Solver!" Chuckled Ben.

"So, should I sign the deed to the house over now?" Han asked as he leaned back in the chair. "Or later?"

"Whenever." Ben waved away Han's question as unimportant.

Rey, on the other hand, gasped. "You can't do that!"

"Why not?" Han shrugged. "I won the house in a sabacc game against Lando. It's paid for. I've made nothing but profits from it for years renting it, and you two are going to need a place to start your lives without blanket fort restrictions. Makes sense to me."

"Except the kitchen Rey." Ben reinforced.

"Okay," laughed Han. "Maybe one blanket fort restriction."

Rey looked around the table at Finn, her only family. Well, maybe not only family, if Ben got his way. Rey grinned to herself as the Solo/Sykwalker/Organa family argued about the house over the table. She reached out and grabbed Finn's hand and squeezed. He squeezed back. They both, after everything, had found the things they never thought they'd ever have for themselves, love and family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We did it. You survived. And I have definitely learned that I need to write the whole story before posting.  
> For those of you that made it to the end, thank you.  
> Sorry it took a little longer than I intended to get this last chapter done. I admit, the release of Cyberpunk 2077 may have had something to do with it.   
> But also that I knew where I wanted the chapter to go and the note I wanted to end on, but it just wasn't doing The Thing™.
> 
> I have a couple of other stories in mind, a one shot, and a multi-chapter beast that I'm definitely going to write first before publishing, y'all deserve regular updates. And It's definitely going to need a beta (where do I find one of those, btw?)
> 
> Thanks again for sticking it through!


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